


sweetest in the gale

by possibilityleft



Series: lightly stepped a yellow star [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Episode Related, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-03-22 02:14:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 124
Words: 43,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3711037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/possibilityleft/pseuds/possibilityleft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of stand-alone short stories inspired by various episodes, currently featuring mostly gen and canon pairings.  S1, but including spoilers for all aired canon.</p><p><em>You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.</em> --Douglas MacArthur</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Gem Glow 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadie/Lars. Sadie scolds Lars for being rude to Steven so much.

"You can't keep saying stuff like that," Sadie said, after the bell tinkled again and Steven hurried out, the freezer tied carefully around his back. She hoped she'd tied the knot right -- not too loose, so he'd drop it on his foot, but not too tight, so the wires would break. She didn't have a lot of experience with freezers.

"Like what?" Lars said, rolling his eyes. Honestly, sometimes she wanted to pop him almost as much as she wanted to make out with him.

"About his special powers," Sadie said, in case Lars really was that obtuse. "You took history with me, you remember what the Crystal Gems did to keep us safe back then. They didn't have to."

"It was their fault we were in trouble to start with!" Lars said, gesturing with a box of freezer pops before tossing them haphazardly into the freezer. "Anyway, Steven doesn't care. He thinks we're friends."

"You don't want him to change his mind, right?" Sadie said. She sighed, crossing the store again and settling in behind the counter. "He's got a lot to live up to. You remember Rose Quartz."

Lars didn't say anything, but she knew he did. Rose had come to the elementary school once when they were kids and talked about human-gem relations or something, Sadie couldn't really remember. She just remembered how tall Rose had been, with that beautiful cotton-candy pink hair. She'd wanted Rose to be her mom. All the kids had.

"Whatever," Lars said, pushing his hair back. "Are you going to help me with this shipment or not?"

Sadie picked up the next box. The next time Lars said something insensitive, she was definitely going to punch him.


	2. Gem Glow 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. Inspired by the following:
>
>> Pearl: Well, we heard that too, and since they’re your favorite-- 
>> 
>> Amethyst: We went out and stole a bunch!
>> 
>> Pearl: _I_ went back and paid for them.

"I'm very, very sorry," Pearl said again and trying to smile. "Amethyst gets a little... enthusiastic at times. But we will pay for them. And the damage." She squinted at the total on the screen, and then looked carefully through the bills in her wallet. It had been a while since she'd gone shopping; usually Greg and Steven made a weekly grocery run. She hoped that the bills she had in here were still valid as currency.

She counted them out carefully and held them out. The clerk just stared at her. Perhaps the poor human was in shock. Or perhaps this wasn't enough for the ice cream and the damage to the wall? Why Amethyst had been in such a hurry, Pearl didn't understand. It wasn't as if anyone but Steven seemed to eat the product. She wished again, very quietly, that he didn't have to eat at all, but perhaps he'd grow into that when his Gem powers came in fully. Food was so filthy and inefficient. She hoped that someone had remembered to put the ice creams in the freezer.

She added another bill to the pile and then set it down gently on the counter in front of the clerk.

"Thank you," she said, smiling again, and left.


	3. Gem Glow 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Garnet gen. After Steven manifests his shield for the first time, Pearl and Garnet have a discussion about the boy they are raising.

They had a rule. It wasn't written down anywhere, just a courtesy, but they hardly ever broke it. No one went into someone else's room in the temple unless it was really important. Mostly it was Pearl braving Amethyst's mess to find a missing item, which almost always caused friction between them.

Usually once Steven went to sleep they all went to their own spaces to prepare for the next day. Pearl always found herself creeping out before too long to watch Steven sleep. It had been a habit she'd started back when he had nightmares, not long after he'd come to live with them. Night terrors were apparently a very common phenomenon among young humans, but it always terrified Pearl when he woke up screaming. She wanted to be there and make sure nothing happened to him.

It was a quiet, comfortable vigil that she kept. She always crept away before dawn to replenish her mind and dance away yesterday's cares. But late that night, Garnet emerged from the temple. She looked at Pearl, and then towards the door. Pearl followed.

They sat outside on the porch in silence for a while. Pearl looked up at the stars, and out of habit, tried to locate theirs. It was too far away, really, but she looked anyway.

"He's going to be a full Gem," Garnet said, with finality. Pearl wasn't sure if she'd seen a vision, or if she was only hopeful. They'd both seen the shield earlier, with Rose Quartz's markings. She'd promised them that she would still be here, in a way, as part of Steven. She'd kept her promise. Pearl shouldn't have doubted her, but Rose wouldn't have been upset knowing she had. She was kind like that.

No one had ever done this before. They hadn't been sure it would be possible. They hadn't known, not at first, what the child would cost them. But that was Rose all over -- giving everything, always finding something new to share.

"It can't be the ice cream, right?" Pearl said, shooting Garnet a look. Garnet shrugged.

"He'll figure it out," she said, and they sat there together for another hour.


	4. Laser Light Cannon 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg/Rose. While helping Steven find the light cannons, Greg remembers Rose giving him little gifts.

Greg was a packrat, but so was Rose -- it was something they had in common. She was always shoving little items in his hands and asking him to keep them for her -- photos, trinkets, one time an almost priceless sculpture that the River University folks had dated back a couple thousand years. (That was in a museum now.) She loved giving him gifts as much as she liked keeping things. Months after Steven was born, he was still finding little caches she'd left all over the house, with ticket stubs and instant photos and even receipts. He found the lipstick he'd given her once, still sealed perfectly, and the videotapes they used to make sometimes when he was sure he'd get a record deal any day.

He remembered the cannons. Rose didn't use them much, but he'd seen her haul them out of the temple, one under each arm, color high in her cheeks. To her, they'd barely weighed anything. He touched one later, when she asked him to store them for her. It was ceramic-smooth and weighed so much he could hardly budge it. He'd watched them fight from a safe distance, unable to understand what they were shouting at each other, watching them slide around in the sand and slam into monster teeth and do everything they could to protect people. It was terrifying, and it was beautiful, the way her ringlets flew as she barked orders and the cannons fired, a sound he heard deep in his chest. The debris littered the beach. When it seemed safe to do so, he clambered down there to help them pick it up.

"That was too close," Pearl said to Rose Quartz, leaning up on her toes and hissing worry into Rose's ear. She'd put her back to Greg, so Greg figured he probably wasn't supposed to hear, but he did anyway.

"If every porkchop were perfect, there wouldn't be hot dogs," he'd remarked, and Pearl had just turned and stared at him in her brittle fury. Rose had laughed. He probably still had that laugh on one of his videotapes, but it wouldn't be the same now.

"I found it!" Steven shouted, his voice muffled, and Greg pushed down the memories and did his best to help, like he always did.


	5. Cheeseburger Backpack 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg and Steven gen. Steven enlists his father's help to buy a backpack.

"Dad! Dad, I need your help!" Steven said, running onto the car wash driveway. Greg grabbed him by the shirt collar to prevent him from running into the car parked there, awaiting Greg's famous waxing special.

"Hey, be careful, people don't always watch closely," he said. Then he let Steven go and squinted up at the sky. He didn't see anything unusual up there, which was good, because the bumper on his van still hadn't recovered from dragging the cannon down to the beach. He didn't want to do that again in a hurry.

"I will," Steven said. He was bouncing a little in excitement.

"What do you need, kiddo?" Greg asked.

"I had a great idea!" Steven said, and he explained it to his dad as Greg waxed the car. Greg wasn't sure if a backpack would really make the Gems take Steven more seriously, but he was eight. Greg didn't really want him going on dangerous missions at this point, anyway. Maybe if they had to go beat up... alien kittens, or something. In any case, Steven probably should have a backpack. He'd need one if he went to school, and Greg was going to talk to Pearl about that again, once he figured out why she'd reacted so badly to the word "kindergarten."

"I want it to be a surprise," Steven said. "Can you come up to the house tonight? The Gems are going on a mission. We can order it on my computer while they're gone."

"Sure thing," Greg said, and Steven beamed. Greg reached down and ruffled Steven's hair.

"Want to do the hubcaps?" he asked, and Steven did a great job getting into the small spaces.


	6. Cheeseburger Backpack 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. Pearl remembers the Sea Spire in its heyday.

Pearl had spent a lot of time in the Sea Spire when she first came to Earth. It had been Rose's primary base of operations, where she could argue and cajole other Gems on the subject of the terraforming and other changes they'd made to the planet's atmosphere. There were months where she didn't set foot on Earth at all, and that was the way she liked it, honestly. She could respect Rose and Rose's fondness for this planet, but that didn't mean she wanted to spend any time in the muck with the natives. Preservation was a great idea, but it could be done at a distance.

The Spire was Homeworld away from home. There were entertainments and classes, meetings and sports and everything a Gem needed to be comfortable.

The Spire was lit all the time, since no one needed to sleep there, and no human settlements were nearby. (The others had made sure of that.) Still, when Rose and Pearl and the rest of her group had fled, they had done so in darkness. They stepped on the warp pad one after another, dearest things bundled under their arms. Rose and Pearl had gone last. Rose had been crying.

"We'll change their minds another way," Pearl said, and tried to believe it, just to see Rose smile.


	7. Cheeseburger Backpack 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. The Gems row home after the Spire is destroyed.

Amethyst shapeshifted her arms to make the paddling easier, but it was a long, slow way back. Steven, worn out by the excitement and danger, fell asleep within an hour. He snored on the bottom of the raft, using his damp backpack as a pillow. They found a piece of driftwood that Pearl was using as the other paddle. They'd switch out who was paddling again soon.

"Who wanted to see that ugly old spire anyway?" Amethyst said, yawning. "That was a waste of our time."

"Amethyst!" Pearl said loudly, and then glanced at Steven, who slept on. "You know, that's your history too. You could be more respectful," she said, more quietly.

"Emblem of a bygone era," Garnet said. She was in the middle of the boat with Steven, occasionally stroking his hair. She hadn't said anything in quite a while; if Pearl hadn't known better she would have thought Garnet was sleeping.

"Maybe so," Pearl conceded.

"It went better than my first mission, anyway," Amethyst said. The other Gems winced, remembering.

"Definitely," Pearl said. "He's trying really hard."

Steven sighed in his sleep and rolled over. They kept paddling. 


	8. Together Breakfast 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen.

Building the temple took a century, even when they spent time fused in order to do the heavier work. It hadn't been so close to the ocean then, just close enough to take advantage of the sand they made into glass to build the heart of the place. They sang to the heart while they worked, everyone carving out their own spaces, making sure the temple would resonate to their gems.

They hadn't called it a temple at first. It was just home. It was the humans who had come and worshipped the being they had carved out of the rock. Humans had a tendency to do that. The Gems did their best to ignore them. They were preparing themselves for the war they knew would be coming.

Rose was the only one who didn't stay away from the humans. She'd always found them fascinating, a quirk that other Gems had tried to ignore, until they couldn't any longer. She walked among them and healed their hurts, and they might have worshipped her still, had the village survived the battle that took place there.

It would be a long time before people came again to the new beach.


	9. Together Breakfast 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. After the breakfast fight, Steven gets his together time after all.

They got pizza. Amethyst ate most of it, but Steven was happy anyway. He talked them into playing a board game with complicated rules and Pearl managed to win somehow. They spent the entire morning with him, chasing him around the beach and then watching an old movie that he knew by heart.

It was wonderful. Steven fell asleep in the middle of the sequel, and when he woke up, the sun was starting to go down, and the gems were gone. Someone had tucked a blanket around him. He got up and went downstairs. Pearl or Garnet had made him sandwiches for dinner and put them in the fridge, which still kind of smelled like Amethyst's giant bird egg. The sandwiches were good anyway. They hadn't left a note -- they hardly ever did, unless they expected to be gone really late. But that was okay, Steven was good at taking care of himself. He remembered to brush his teeth and put his clothes in the laundry basket before sitting down on the couch with a book to wait for them.

When he woke up, Garnet was carrying him upstairs, and he drifted back to sleep, feeling safe.


	10. Frybo 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peedee gen. Peedee contemplates joining the working class.

Peedee's dad always smelled like French fries, old grease, and sweat. To Peedee, there was no better smell. When he was little, he'd wait anxiously for his dad to come home and lift him into his arms for a hug, and he could always smell him coming. Then his dad would sit at the kitchen table and tell stories about his day before his mother shooed his dad upstairs to take a shower. Even after the shower, he smelled like fries.

Peedee never thought he'd get tired of that smell, but ten minutes in the Frybo costume proved him wrong. It was hot and smelled like rancid French fries and Ronaldo's sweat. Ronaldo was thrilled that Peedee had grown into the costume, and Peedee had even been excited to try it. But now all he could think was that he had three more hours of this to look forward to. His dad would give him a break if he needed one, but by federal law, he didn't have to. Peedee wanted to make his father happy. And he wanted some change for the arcade.

He danced until the seagulls came, listlessly, and then screamed at the birds, too stupid to realize they were only eating foam, or just not caring. Some people did this their whole lives. His cousin was a mascot for his university. The cousin wanted to be a mascot for a pro football team someday.

Peedee thought about his dad, cheerful no matter how long he'd been standing at the register, always encouraging. He'd been working for years. Decades, even. Ten minutes was long enough for Peedee.

He shouted, but the birds kept coming.


	11. Frybo 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. Pearl really wished Steven would understand that his actions sometimes had serious consequences.

He was lucky.

Steven was so, so lucky and he didn't even understand it. Innocent. Pearl wanted to keep him that way for as long as possible. It was strange -- the moment Rose had left them, Pearl had wanted her back, wanted her solid, sensible self, the woman who could solve any problem. But she didn't want Steven to be that person. She wanted him to enjoy his childhood. The Gems were only juveniles for a brief period, nothing like human children. He should treasure it.

Sometimes she wished he was better at understanding consequences, however. She'd read all the parenting books -- she knew that at his age, he wasn't always capable of thinking through the results of his actions. Nor had he seen the havoc that could result, not firsthand. Pearl had spent all morning remembering those horrible days when the Shard drones had turned on their creators. It was no easier knowing that it had mostly affected their enemies. No one should have their gems destroyed in that way, and by the end, some of the Shard drones had begun to shove the new Shards directly into new bodies to create backup for themselves. They were too smart, and too dangerous, and shouldn't have escaped the temple to start with.

This one had latched onto food. Alone, perhaps, it wouldn't do much damage. But Pearl still didn't want Steven to see the carnage that might follow his rash action. She drew her weapon and prayed for the strength to keep them all safe.


	12. Cat Fingers 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst gen. Amethyst loves shapeshifting.

Amethyst loved becoming something else. It didn't matter what, it would come to her at the right moment. Some nights when she was bored and Steven was asleep, she turned on the television, volume low, and changed herself into the creatures from nature documentaries. She had been an elephant and a cat, Garnet and Greg, anything she wanted. She thought she was a pretty good mimic, although she could rarely get the right voice.

Shapeshifting had been her favorite part of learning to be a Gem, and she had taken to it right away. She used to learn new animals while Rose and the others were away fighting, and then she'd sit out on the beach rolling around in the sand and waiting for them to return so she could show them. Rose always laughed with delight. She loved plants, which Amethyst mostly found boring, since they couldn't move, but she liked animals a lot too. She was always talking about the infinite variety of beings on Earth.

More than anything, it was her favorite way of expressing herself. Other people used words. Amethyst used her whole being. She wanted to reinvent herself into someone new. When she did, she didn't think about the kindergarten at all, and the Gems who had left her there. Pearl called her vulgar, for changing all the time, but Pearl didn't like anyone to have fun.

Amethyst became a turtle and napped in the sun, letting the tide wash over her, and wondered sleepily why anyone would stick to one shape, when they could be someone else.


	13. Cat Fingers 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg gen. Greg is completely out of his league when it comes to crazy Gem stuff.

Greg thought that he was used to weird stuff happening around the Gems. He'd seen so many strange monsters and powers over the years since he met Rose that he thought nothing would phase him.

But Steven always did. Greg hadn't been around for the other Gems teething, or whatever they had done, long before they met him. It was terrifying, to see his son wild and covered in cats and know he could do nothing to help. Where were the Gems? Why weren't they here to take care of this? This was precisely the reason why Greg had let Steven live with them: because they could help him with problems like this. Greg didn't know the first thing about shapeshifting. Or the finer points of whatever Steven would eventually be able to do with the gem on his stomach. He just wasn't qualified, and Rose had promised him that her people would be.

It was cats this time, but it could have been worse. What if Steven had turned into an eagle and flown away, forgetting who he was? What if he'd gotten embroiled in some cosmic battle and lost an eye or a limb? What if--

It reminded Greg of the many discussions he'd had with Rose when they had talked about being parents. She had been so comforting; she'd had an answer to all of his questions. But he'd never thought to ask questions about something like _this_.

When Steven emerged from the car wash, pink and shiny and -- almost -- entirely human, Greg could have cried. Maybe he did a little. Then he put his son to bed in the van where he could keep an eye on him.

He'd have a talk with those three tomorrow.


	14. Bubble Buddies 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie gen. Steven planned their meeting very carefully.

The bracelet was in the freezer for almost a year. Every time Steven opened it to get some ice cream, he spotted it, shoved in the back corner in hopes that Amethyst would leave it alone. (That was a good strategy -- usually she didn't like the effort of preparing food, just eating it.) Whenever he saw it, a little tingle went through his toes. He really wanted to meet her.

Steven knew everyone who lived in Beach City year round; there weren't a lot of people. He considered himself good friends with everyone. So now that the new girl was hanging around, he should say hello to her. But every time he thought about it, he choked up. He'd picked up the bracelet originally intended to catch up with her that night and give it back, but his mouth had just screwed shut on him, like he'd eaten too much peanut butter.

But this was the day. She was just down the lane from the temple and looked like she'd be there for a while. He'd impress her with his awesome bike-riding skills -- his dad had recently taught him how to ride without training wheels -- and after that, casually, he'd give her the bracelet back. Then they'd be friends forever.

Of course, it didn't really happen that way, but he guessed that it had worked out alright after all.

(Much later, Connie told him that she'd been just as nervous to meet him, but by then the idea of not being friends was as foreign to them as another country, and they'd laughed together.)


	15. Serious Steven 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet gen. Garnet decides that it's time to clean up the strawberry fields a little.

The strawberry fields were beautiful. Garnet didn't eat often, and she wasn't often tempted, but she leaned down and picked up a strawberry, just to feel it firm against her fingers. Around her, half-hidden by the underbrush, there were weapons, abandoned by their owners or broken and useless. Around her, many Gems had died, shattering before Rose could cry for them. It was better as a strawberry field. It was better that something grew.

Garnet walked through the field, looking for anything unusual. She did this sweep every hundred years or so, just to be sure. If something looked like it might get out of hand, she'd go back for the others. Once again, she stood in front of the great inverted pyramid. They'd never gone inside once it had fallen, because once it had, it never moved again.

It was really breaking up the beautiful landscape, now. It might be time to see what could be done with it. To show Steven some of his heritage, but in a safe way -- probably safe. There couldn't be any Gems left there or they would have shown themselves by now. They could live long lives, but weren't particularly patient, not these. That had been the problem.


	16. Serious Steven 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven gen. Steven figures out how the temple works, and a memory (not his).

Steven was going to be sick. At first he thought it was because he was too excited, and then he thought it was because he was too terrified, but he knew Garnet wouldn't have brought him along if something really bad could happen. He was getting just what he'd asked for: a chance to prove himself as a Crystal Gem.

He was definitely going to throw up. He wasn't qualified. He wasn't the right half Gem, or something. They were going to find out that he was an imposter and that his mom shouldn't have given up her form for him at all.

He stopped. He took a deep breath. And he thought about it.  
 _  
(--"They're always thinking so very hard," Rose said, fondly. "My goodness, they start from little nothings and they build enormous, beautiful things. They take every second that they are given and make it count."_

_Pearl hummed in a neutral tone. She wasn't as fascinated by the humans as Rose was, but Rose always took an interest in the indigenous people of any planet. At least this time she wasn't rolling around in dirt to get the right musk, like she had for the last one.)_  
  
"It's like the teacups!" Steven said, his heart pounding with pride, and all his worries melted away.


	17. Tiger Millionaire 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst gen. Amethyst loves TV.

Amethyst loved television. She loved a lot of human things, just like Rose did, but she found television singularly captivating, and she often stayed awake after Greg fell asleep to see what was on throughout the evening hours. She was definitely thinking seriously about buying a Slap Chop, as soon as she could figure out how to get a credit card.

Late night wrestling was her favorite thing, though. The men wore costumes and shouted and fought and fought again, every night with a new story. Greg said it wasn't real, but Amethyst didn't believe him. They were loud and sparkly and sometimes they saved the Earth from evil through punching. It would be the perfect human career as far as she was concerned. Honestly, she mostly did it already, except she didn't get a belt for it. Maybe next time she regenerated she'd make herself one.

It felt like anything could happen up there on that stage. Old wrestlers returned to reclaim their titles, new ones came to glory and then fell. Amethyst could beat them all. She wouldn't even need a folding chair (although that looked totally fun).

She picked out a name and then a costume and shape, and sometimes she went into her room and practiced flexing. But it didn't go any further than that until after Rose died and Amethyst needed to get away from all of the expectations that had been dumped on her. Suddenly the Purple Puma made sense. She could be completely in charge, and if anyone disagreed, they'd meet her fist. Pearl and Garnet didn't need to know. It was better that they didn't, they'd probably say she was cheating or something. This was entirely hers.

The crowd booed at her and the Purple Puma lifted her hands, encouraging their hate. They had no idea who she was, and that was the way she liked it.


	18. Tiger Millionaire 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. Pearl and Garnet try on some wrestling names.

They walked together back to the temple after the match. After they were out of sight of spectators, Amethyst changed back into her normal self, and Steven ran ahead of them, pausing and twisting around to face the others, chattering on and on about the match and all of the fun he had had, punching the air in replay and laughing. He kept tossing back persona ideas to Pearl, and she kept trying not to snicker.

"Ballerina Guilt! Fencing Queen! White Tiger!"

Amethyst laughed, loud and long, like she'd been holding it back for a while.

"You should have seen Steven," she said to Pearl and Garnet. "We made a great team."

"Well, we always do," Pearl said, after a moment's hesitation, trying a smile, and Amethyst smiled, and shrugged, and ran ahead to help Steven reenact a pivotal moment, lifting him onto her shoulders so he could grab for the title belt, which he'd unfastened from around his waist for the occasion.

Pearl wrapped her hand around Garnet's arm, and they walked back to the temple, the salt breeze in their hair.

"Gauntlet," Garnet said, with some confidence, once they'd arrived, "would have been a much better name than Captain Square."

Pearl did laugh then.


	19. Steven's Lion 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. Steven's history with pets.

A partial list of pets that Steven had asked for, in chronological order:

1\. A mouse (age 3, after watching American Tail)  
2\. A dinosaur (age 4, after watching A Land Before Time)  
3\. A dog (age 6, after playing with Peedee's dog's puppies)  
4\. A goldfish (age 6 1/2, after attending a local fair and watching Garnet decimate the games; she could totally have won him a goldfish)  
5\. A dog (age 7, a request for his birthday; he got a ukulele instead)  
6\. A lion (age 8, after finding a pink lion in a desert)

Pearl didn't like animals much. They required a lot of care and she wasn't sure that Steven was ready for that responsibility. Plus, unlike children, pets never talked, or appreciated art, or any of the things that she found valuable about interacting with other beings. And they weren't very clean.

Amethyst totally wanted to keep one of the puppies, but when Pearl said no, she turned into a puppy instead and rolled around in the dirt, which Pearl said proved her point.

Garnet never said no to any of his requests, but she never said yes either, and instead of a goldfish, she won him a stuffed animal. It had pride of place in his bedroom, but it didn't move around or talk or anything unless he made it.

Steven's dad said that he couldn't really keep a pet in the van. It barely slept one, and he wouldn't want to worry about it jumping out when he was on the road. Which wasn't very often, but still.

When Lion was done helping Steven save the whole beach from becoming architecture, Steven asked to keep him, just in case the Gems had changed their minds about pets. Lion stared at him in a way that Steven figured was probably affectionate.

"All right," Pearl said, after she was done laughing at Garnet. "But you'll need to clean up after him, and remember to feed him. I'm going to have to do some research to see how to best take care of him."

"Uh, Pearl, he's a magical pink lion, who says he behaves like any normal lion?" Amethyst said, turning into a purple duplicate of the beast. Lion eyed her, but he didn't rise to the bait.

"We'll figure it out," Garnet said, "but Pearl is right. The litter box is your responsibility."

Maybe he should have started with a goldfish, Steven thought, but then Lion snuffled his ear, and the tickle made him laugh.


	20. Steven's Lion 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose gen. Shameless speculation on how Lion came to be.

Rose was good with plants, so when she decided that her child would need a protector, she grew Lion from a seed. It took a while, but the others breathed a sigh of relief when she chose not to go on missions with them. She loved their care and concern, but it was nice to have the time to herself to prepare herself. She watered the plant and sung to it in encouragement, and it grew and grew and grew until she snipped it free.

The lion stared at her. She kissed him on the nose and talked to him about what she needed him to do. He sat very still while she anchored the pocket dimension in his mane and keyed it to her gem.

She made the place simple and beautiful, with soft grass that was a pleasure to walk through, and a tree that would be fun to climb. She put her treasures in there, for Steven to discover, and the video as well.

"When he's ready," she told Lion, "you will show him the way."

That wouldn't be for a long time. The air really was too thin here, and although she did what she could to help, the place still needed to heal. The battle had not been kind. It wasn't kind to any part of Earth, but somehow Earth was still here. The lack of oxygen didn't bother Rose very much, in any case, and it would help keep these things private and safe.

When everything was done, she took Lion out into the desert and they walked a long way past the portal, past the slipping columns and the battered, broken walls. The little gem that tried to maintain the place wasn't doing very well, but she didn't have any energy to give it. It would hold out for a while yet -- at least until Steven was mature, she hoped. Surely Homeworld would leave this planet alone until then, and he could have time to process his heritage and become the amazing person he would be.

She left the bubbled Gem in the pocket space as well, just in case, and then she leaned down and hugged Lion hard. He wouldn't be lonely here, or hungry, or bored. He would sleep until he was needed. But she still wanted to acknowledge his efforts.

She walked back to the portal alone, the sand warm on her feet.


	21. Arcade Mania 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet and Greg gen. Greg gives Garnet some parenting advice.

The hardest part was knowing when it was okay to let him fall. Garnet had treated Steven like the softest gemstone when he was small, anticipating his every wobble. He'd never get hurt in her care, she was determined.

One afternoon after watching Garnet prevent Steven from tripping over a hidden branch, a small sand dune, and the coffee table, Greg said, "You know, it's okay for him to fall down once in a while. He won't break, he's pretty hardy. Sometimes he gets going too fast and ends up on his butt. He always laughs."

Garnet stared at him. Greg cleared his throat, but he continued. "Kids do stuff like that. They have to try something to know if it's good or not. They get into trouble, and then they find a way out of it. I'm not saying you should let him choke on a hot dog, but it's okay if he gets a bruise sometimes. It'll teach him not to run headlong into furniture."

"I see," Garnet said. Whenever she wasn't directly with Steven she could usually push back the visions, but he seemed to send her mind into a terrible spiral. There were so many ways that a human child could be injured, and she saw them all. She wanted to protect Rose's legacy -- but Rose had done difficult things alongside them. She'd never been afraid to get dirty.

The next time Steven took a corner too fast and tripped on his own feet, she let him. But when he came over and hugged her leg, she leaned down and hugged him back.

That was the other side to being hurt, after all -- knowing that people would help you feel better, if you let them.


	22. Arcade Mania 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg/Rose. This isn't even a drabble, it's just something that amused me.

As bad as the arcade was, it was still better than what happened at Greg and Rose's wedding.

But they didn't talk about that. Ever.


	23. Giant Woman 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet and Steven gen. Garnet usually brings Steven souvenirs from her missions.

A partial list of souvenirs Garnet gave to Steven after a solo mission:

1\. A rock. A lot of rocks. They were the easiest thing to find. One time she'd brought a whole bucketful and he'd used them to shore up the wall of his sandcastle against a vicious tiny crab attack, although the crabs had overwhelmed his borders eventually.

2\. A flower. It was as big as Steven's head and when he buried his nose in it, he sneezed so loudly that Pearl had come running to make sure he was okay.

3\. A replacement cell phone. Garnet told him she'd been on her way to give it to him when she'd gotten delayed. He didn't mind that one of the corners was kind of melted, it added character.

4\. A tiny glass animal, but not an animal he'd ever seen before. When he asked her what it was, she just smiled.  
5\. A clam. That one had been an accident; she'd pulled it out of her boot, squeezed water out of her hair, and helped Steven put the clam in the ocean. "Hopefully it won't come back," she said. "...Okay?" Steven said.

6\. A firm hug. She didn't always have time to grab something, which was totally okay, because she always came back. When he told her that, she hugged him harder.


	24. Giant Woman 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Amethyst gen. Separately, they muse on why it was so hard to form Opal nowadays.

Pearl and Amethyst hadn't formed Opal in a really long time. They hadn't needed to, Pearl thought. But she couldn't remember the last time they had fused. She could hardly remember the last time that talking hadn't resulted in an argument. Everything Amethyst said nowadays raised Pearl's hackles. She was rude, she was lazy, and she was a horrible example for Steven. Her room was a mess and she didn't take anything that Pearl said seriously. It drove Pearl crazy. So of course they didn't form Opal.

They'd been better at it, once. But everyone pushed themselves hard during the war. Sometimes an archer was needed, and Amethyst and Pearl could be that person. Amethyst gave Pearl the courage, and Pearl gave Amethyst the temperament. They had been a good fusion.

Those days were past. Now sometimes Pearl felt like Amethyst was a stranger. She could never tell what Amethyst was going to do next.

It had been different once, but nothing stayed the same forever.

***************

Pearl used to be fun. Pearl used to care about other stuff than practicing and telling Amethyst to pick up her room. She used to run around with Amethyst and laugh when she turned into something funny. She used to spend time with Amethyst when Garnet and Rose were busy. She used to actually care what Amethyst had to say.

Now it was nothing but rules rules rules and why couldn't Amethyst be more perfect? Amethyst was fine as she was. She was happy. Steven liked playing with her and he always laughed at her jokes. She was still cool. It was Pearl that had changed.

It was no wonder they never formed Opal anymore. Pearl was way too stiff to be that awesome. The fusion would fall apart as soon as they put it together, and then Pearl would say it was Amethyst's fault.

Amethyst was tired of being blamed when she hadn't tried to change anything.


	25. Giant Woman 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl, Amethyst, and Opal gen. Opal is the best of them both, whether or not they are comfortable admitting it. Slight Pearlamethyst if you squint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone reading and kudosing and commenting! I just wanted to leave a note -- if there's some little canon detail you think should be expanded on, or you just want to say hi, you can find me on Tumblr at [possibilityleft](http://possibilityleft.tumblr.com). I love writing prompts!

For Steven, it was easy. They'd hurried their steps and Amethyst had rushed into Pearl's arms, knowing she would catch her. They'd worked together like old times, united in their worry. Amethyst knew when it was time to be serious, and Pearl knew when she needed Amethyst's strength.

For a while, it had felt like old times: a desperate, deep connection, fighting to take care of the people they loved. Opal was calm and focused. She got things done. Pearl had forgotten how nice it was to lose herself in a fusion with someone else. She had a hard time giving up control; fusion was never easy for her. And Amethyst treasured her independence, because for a long time it was all she had. She chafed at rules.

Opal really was the best of both of them, as much as neither wanted to admit it. Opal could recognize it because she managed to subsume both of their egos. When Steven looked up at her, uncertain that she'd recognize him, she didn't panic, or feel embarrassed. It was right to sing, it was right to reassure him. It was really about time that they had introduced the concept of fusion to him, and although Opal wished that the occasion had been a little less dangerous, it had gone well (Amethyst's laid-back demeanor came through strongly this time, once the danger had passed).

They kept the fusion all the way back. Steven chattered as he hurried down the stairs, telling Opal stories about anything that popped into his head. She was just glad he hadn't asked to bring the goat back with them. One pet was enough.

When they split back into themselves, the argument already forming in their mouths even as their bodies coalesced, it felt like nothing had changed. They were back to this morning, back to losing chess and being rude and forgetting the way it used to be.

But the next day, Pearl brought home the brand of chips she thought that Amethyst liked the most, and one of her small daggers turned up, one she was sure she'd lost months ago. Neither of them said anything about it.

But maybe next time, Opal would fit together a little better.


	26. So Many Birthdays 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. After seeing the large version of the painting from Amethyst's room, I had to write this. [Take a good look.](http://i.imgur.com/J0iYfpP.png)
> 
> (Garnet says, "The hardest part was getting the shark to pose." I'm going to pretend she's joking.)

The ship went down fifty miles off the coast, and after defeating and bubbling the gem in the sea serpent that had caused the wreck, Rose insisted they look for survivors. The gem sloop would be able to move faster than any rescue ship, and that was even assuming that anyone knew that the _Mary_ was out here in distress.

Astonishingly they found a lifeboat with a few humans on board. They were still in a state of shock. Rose did her best to reassure them and heal their hurts. Garnet leaned over the bow and looked for more survivors.

"There!" she said, pointing, and Amethyst rowed. Pearl reached over the side and pulled him in, and then they went on to the next one. There weren't very many, mostly people who had been on deck when the creature attacked and had somehow escaped its writhing body. They did what they could, and towed the survivors back to shore.

The painting had arrived years later -- they'd almost forgotten about the episode by then. Gem monster attacks had been especially bad that year, and they were working on the temple when they could. When the man arrived at their beach and ignored the polite sign warning about a construction zone, Garnet went out to chase him away. She came back alone but holding a piece of carefully wrapped canvas. She handed it to Rose. Rose unfastened the weatherproofing to look at the piece, and then she laughed. Amethyst and Pearl crowded around to see.

"What's this?" Pearl asked.

"Us," Garnet said. "The man who delivered it said he'd painted it. We rescued him a while back. Sea serpent, I think."

"I don't remember you punching any sharks," Amethyst said. "Did you punch a shark? Aww, I missed it!"

"Artistic license," Garnet said.

"Clearly," Pearl said, "he got my hair all wrong. And why is that boy shirtless? In that freezing water? That would make no sense!"

"There's a lot of unexpected nudity in human art," Rose offered to the discussion. "It's strange, given that in most circumstances it is considered the height of rudeness. How kind of him, to want to give us this gift. Did you thank him, Garnet?"

"Er," Garnet said. "I didn't throw him very hard."

Rose pursed her lips, and then she shook her head. "We'll hang this up when the temple is done," she said.

"I bet I can still catch him!" Amethyst said, popping up into a bird form, but Rose caught her claw and Amethyst settled comfortably onto her shoulder instead.

"It's for the best, really," Pearl said, looking up at Rose for encouragement. "We don't want to encourage their curiosity!"

Rose nodded. "They are really very sweet," she said. "I'll put this somewhere safe."

"Next time I punch a shark, pay attention," Garnet said, smiling at Amethyst, and they got back to work.


	27. So Many Birthdays 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Steven gen. Pearl doesn't know how she's going to deal with Steven getting older.

They really hadn't known how Steven's aging process would work. The idea had come up quite early on in the gestation process, but this baby was an entirely new being, half Gem and half human. He was part organic, which meant that he might wear out. But he was part Gem too, so his body might be able to repair itself better than human bodies normally could.

They hoped for the best. That was all they could do. Even Garnet's future vision wasn't much help; it focused mostly on the very near future, which was easiest to predict. Looking out too far tended to give her a headache, and it decreased the chances that her predictions were correct.

So they hoped. Steven grew like a normal human child, showing the expected levels of growth at each birthday. Greg made jokes about how Steven would soon grow taller than he was, and Steven laughed and didn't grow a foot overnight.

And then the birthday happened. Pearl wasn't proud of panicking, but everything happened so _fast_ and they had no idea how to reverse it. He got older and older and she just wanted to scream. It was like Rose all over again, but they'd had nine months to adjust to the idea of her going away, and that had been difficult enough. The idea of losing both Rose and Steven was unthinkable, especially since she couldn't do anything about it. Oh, but they should have taught him about this earlier! But what if they had, and lost him even sooner?

She couldn't deal with it. She was crying so hard she could hardly see him and they certainly felt like honest tears, no matter how constructed her body was. She had failed Rose. She'd failed all of them. She could smell the leftover pie on her face, and thought she was going to be sick.

And then he fixed it -- all on his own. She hugged him hard. He was small and knobble-kneed and so young. Still learning. And he had given himself the time to do it. It wasn't one of Pearl's finer moments, or happiest memories, but he hugged her back, and that was all she needed right now -- a small child's head pressed against her stomach.


	28. Lars and the Cool Kids 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. The Gems try to figure out how to keep humans off their beach.

Keeping humans off their beach, and out of their old battlegrounds, was more than a chore than the Gems initially expected. They were a curious species by nature and it seemed like once the shouting and explosions had stopped, they wanted to go take a look at the devastation. But those places would be uninhabitable for thousands of years. (Except for their base on the beach, which warranted privacy for another reason.)

Every era the Gems had to try something different. Rumors of witchcraft and devilry were the easiest to spread, as long as they didn't get accused of it themselves, but that left danger for passing strangers who hadn't heard them. Fences could be scaled and took a long time to build. They didn't even usually last twenty years, which felt pretty pointless, but the kinds of metals they would need to build better ones weren't readily available. And really, they had better things to do.

It was Pearl who found out about the police tape. She'd gone into town to buy some paint to renew the sign on the fence around the temple, and found that the door of the local hardware store was covered in yellow ribbon. She ducked under it carefully and found a human barking at her.

"Didn't you read the tape? Stay out, police business!"

Pearl was pretty sure that human laws didn't really apply to her but they were trying to keep a low profile, so she stepped out politely and waited for the human to emerge.

"Is this tape very effective?" she asked.

The person grunted. "Usually. Only police go in when the place is taped up. You don't want to get arrested, do you? Run along little girl."

Pearl sniffed, but she consented to go around the side of the building. There was a second door out back, also covered in the tape. She snipped a bit off and brought it back to the temple for the other Gems to examine.

"Police line, do not cross," Amethyst read carefully. 

"The humans use it to keep people out," Pearl said. "Their lawkeepers hang this in restricted areas. I was thinking we could put some on the fence."

"Good plan," Rose told her, and Pearl blushed with pride.


	29. Lars and the Cool Kids 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose gen. Speculation on Rose and her connection to plants, and how that makes her dangerous.

Rose's plants were just like her: beautiful and dangerous. Some on Homeworld made snide remarks about her laser focus on plant life, rather than rocks or animals or gas or technology. A diversity of strengths was preferred, and most Gems had at least two specialties. But Rose was always most interested in plants, and she made them work for her in all her duties.

Plants had her enthusiasm, and her devotion, and that made them more dangerous. They could start over from the smallest seed. The techniques she used in the war would be studied by generations of Homeworld gems. "Limited," the treatises would say, "but terribly useful."

Flowers grew where Rose had fought and moss sucked where Rose had been pinned in and when she achieved her goals, everything bloomed. Organic bodies fertilized the soil, and elegant stems grew up around cracked and empty gems, hiding them back into the earth.

She'd won. The treatises didn't talk about this, just pointed out the battle theory flaws that might have turned the tide, had the Gems fighting seen Rose's strategy. Perhaps, if they hadn't dismissed her soldiers, Gems and non-Gems, the Earth rising up against them in Rose's hands, they might have won.

But probably not, because they couldn't stop her growing.


	30. Onion Trade 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Onion gen. Onion is pretty good at negotiation.

A selection of trades Onion made:  
1\. Knowledge about the fishing trade to Suitcase Sam, who wanted it for investing purposes. In return, he received Sam's lunch.  
2\. A large number of tickets, acquired illegally, to Mr. Smiley, in return for a scooter.  
3\. Sour Cream's finished math homework to Kiki, in return for a future favor; as yet unclaimed.  
4\. A cat's eye marble to Peedee, in return for a blue sweater. It was never cool enough for a sweater in Beach City, but he felt it made him look posh.  
5\. Sam's lunch to various fish, in return for nice weather on the beach.  
6\. Steven's Ranger GUY to Steven, in return for a technology that could easily destroy the economy of the country.

It was a productive week. He'd spoken to his father three times, and he got to throw cars. He wanted to keep the replicator wand, but he had nothing that the Gems might want in exchange. At least, not yet.

He'd work on that next week.


	31. Steven the Sword Fighter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet/Pearl. Garnet loves to watch Pearl fight.

Garnet liked to watch Pearl fight, now that there weren't any stakes to it. They sparred regularly, of course, in order to keep in sync and be comfortable when they all had to fight together. Fusion wasn't always practical, after all -- sometimes it was necessary to have hands in different places of a battle. The three of them had to work together like the single army that they were.

But normally when they were fighting together, or sparring between themselves, Garnet didn't have a lot of time to watch Pearl at her work. Nor did Pearl always bother with the flashy, flowing swordplay that she favored. Watching her fight was like watching her dance, and Garnet always enjoyed that too. She admired Pearl's effortless elegance. Sometimes you needed a delicate touch, and that was Pearl's strength. She was the smallest, and most fragile. Garnet could swim through lava. She'd felt the car slamming into her, and hadn't enjoyed it, but hadn't broken. Pearl might have. Before Steven had come along, it had been Garnet's job to keep Pearl safe on dangerous missions. (Of course it still was, because she had to take care of all of them, but Steven was even more delicate, and less able to take care of himself.)

She sat and observed, rapt, as Pearl pirouetted into the next strike, and in her head, she could hear the words Pearl wasn't singing.


	32. Steven the Sword Fighter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven gen. Steven waits for Pearl to come back.

Steven tried everything he could think of to convince Pearl to come back. After a while, Garnet said they needed to go back to the temple, so he wrapped her gem carefully in his t-shirt and carried her back to the warp pad. Garnet and Amethyst stayed with him until he fell asleep that night, with Pearl's gem on his pillow. But when he got up in the morning, Pearl wasn't staring at him, like she sometimes pretended she wasn't doing. The gem on his pillow hadn't moved. He lay there in bed next to it, and eventually reached out to put his hand on it. It was cool to the touch. It didn't feel like Pearl at all.

Eventually he got up and got some cereal. He brought the pillow with him and talked to Pearl as he rummaged around in the cabinet, just in case she could hear him in there. He figured she'd want to know what was going on so she wouldn't have to catch up when she regenerated.

Amethyst and Garnet were so casual about it. They went on missions and Amethyst played with the cloud she'd stolen from the abandoned temple, and Garnet did her usual thing. It didn't seem right to Steven that Pearl wasn't there to chide him about cleaning up or tell him a story.

The hologram was worse. He wanted Pearl back so much he thought he'd give her a try, but she didn't want to do anything but fight. It was worse to have her than it was to just have Pearl's gem.

He put the movie in and set Pearl down next to him. He knew she wasn't big on samurai movies, but it was movie night. Garnet and Amethyst weren't back, so it would just be the two of them. It would have been her turn to pick the movie. If she came back, he'd watch any kind of documentary she wanted, no matter how boring the announcer's voice was. Even if he fell asleep, it would be okay because Pearl would be there when he woke up again.

"Come back soon," he told her, and he rested his hand on her gem for a moment before turning on the movie.


	33. Lion 2: The Movie 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie gen. Connie didn't expect friendship to be like this.

Connie had just wanted to see a movie with her friend, and now her life was a magical adventure. She thought that if she tried to smile any harder her face would just get stuck that way (which would probably please her mom but wasn't very practical). Amethyst had turned into a real live dogcopter, which was apparently so common around Steven's house that he wasn't even impressed. And his guardians had just warped into the middle of his house, back from a crazy mission protecting humanity, and they'd watched a video on her phone.

This was not what Connie had expected when she got a friend. It was better than she'd ever dreamed of. She didn't like Steven because of his weird life, but because he was so nice and never had a mean word to say about anyone. But she enjoyed being on the fringes of all the strange stuff that happened to him. She'd read about Hermione and Meg and Lisa from Spirit Morph Saga, but she never thought anything that cool could happen to her.

But it was. Steven had a pet lion who walked on water, and who knew where they were going? She could be in Narnia by two o'clock, which would be even better than Dogcopter 3 in 3D. She was glad she'd worn pants today and sensible shoes. She wondered if she'd have cell phone service when they arrived, but she couldn't bring herself to care too much. She held onto Steven, her hands brushing Lion's mane, and grinned and grinned., feeling like at any second someone was going to burst into song about their life beginning.

Maybe her.


	34. Lion 2: The Movie 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ticket-taking girl gen. It must be pretty weird living in Beach City. A story told in text messages.

Sarah 3:14PM  
_pretty sure i am about to die_

Marty 3:16PM  
_work can't be that bad_

Sarah 3:17PM  
_theres a giant weird Tiki monster thing outside_

Sarah 3:18PM  
_it is firing LASERS_

Sarah 3:19PM  
_pls delete my internet history_

Sarah 3:20PM  
_and my livejournal_

Marty 3:21PM  
_lol autocorrect a what monster?_

Sarah 3:22PM  
_a TIKI monster idk I ducked down and all I can hear is screaming and explosions_

Sarah 3:23PM  
_there are kids out there but they dont pay me enough $ to mount a rescue_

Sarah 3:24PM  
_if I die tell Katie I was saving those kids though_

Marty 3:24PM  
_you better not die I already bought tix for the show next week_

Marty 3:25PM  
_are u serious though? like is the theater on fire?_

Sarah 3:25PM  
_i hope not_

Marty 3:30PM  
_sarah???_

Marty 3:32PM  
_are you ok? if u don't answer in 5 min i'm calling the police_

Sarah 3:34PM  
_i'm okay. i just sold a movie ticket to a pink lion_

Sarah 3:35PM  
_when we graduate i am moving away so fast_


	35. Beach Party 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nanefua gen. Nanefua reflects on the way the Crystal Gems have changed through recent years.

The Crystal Gems had always had a difficult relationship with the people of Beach City. The partial destruction of Fish Pizza was only the latest incident in a long series of them. If reminded, sometimes they would help clean up the mess they left behind, but otherwise, they seemed to forget. Nanefua had seen it many times, ever since she was a girl. Once there had been another one, the friendliest one, who liked humans. But she was gone now, and these three remained, along with the child.

Steven was a good kid. He had a heart big enough for all of the Gems. And in Nanefua's experience, when someone had children, it often softened their personality. The fence was gone now, with its polite notes. Greg had a steady job, to take care of his son. He'd become quite the responsible adult. The giant pink-haired woman had left her child in good care. Her --sisters? friends? other children? -- were becoming something new along with the boy.

Nanefua knew you were never too old to learn or try something new. One of these days, she was going to get them to give pizza a try.


	36. Rose's Room 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose/Pearl, established relationship fluff set pre-canon.

Rose's room was her sanctuary. She almost never received visitors there, preferring to meet with them outside the temple. Of course, she occasionally made exceptions, especially when a Gem was injured and she wanted to keep an eye on them and monitor their healing. Every one of them had woken up more than once in her pink cloudbanks. Garnet said once it was like waking up in Rose's hair. The statement was true enough to make Pearl shiver a little with pleasure.

"Why don't you come in?" Rose said, taking Pearl's small hand in hers, and she smiled that smile that Pearl always got lost in. This was no special occasion -- she wasn't injured, there hadn't been a mission for a few days, and the Gems were enjoying the break. Pearl had met Rose when Pearl was coming in from her shift guarding the fence. There had been more human activity than usual near their beach, but it really wasn't anything to worry about. She'd organized the watch herself. Garnet was out there now sitting in a deck chair; Pearl hadn't asked where it came from.

"Are you sure?" Pearl asked.

"Of course," Rose said, and she was so reassuring that Pearl followed without hesitation. Rose's room was a soft desert, the light coming from all directions and paling her pink. Pearl stopped moving, and then Rose.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked. "I thought we could take a walk together."

"Sure!" Pearl said, and she wrapped her hand around Rose's arm. They walked on through the room, which gave the illusion of being much larger than it really was. Gradually, they emerged into a quiet park, and Rose held a parasol in her free hand, which she held up against the gentle sun.

They didn't need to talk, wearing the comfortable silence of those who had been important to each other for so long that reassurance was unnecessary. They did speak, once in a while, to share a thought or ask a question, and more than once stopped for a kiss.

They didn't have the time for these indulgences often, so Pearl treasured the feeling of Rose's lips on hers. No matter how many times they fought together, no matter how many centuries they lived in each other's orbit, she was determined not to forget even a single kiss. Rose seemed to tuck them away like treasures as well, like she did with anything Pearl gave her. Her gem pressed into Pearl's stomach as they touched, and Pearl glowed in her gaze.

After a while, they walked on, and when they finally emerged from Rose's room, Pearl felt warm and renewed. Rose's fingers were linked in hers. Outside, they could hear Garnet and Amethyst talking and laughing, probably playing some kind of a game.

"Shall we join in?" Rose asked, and Pearl nodded, so they walked down to the beach.


	37. Coach Steven 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. Pearl is not a fan of Amethyst and Garnet fusing.

A partial list of things that Sugilite has destroyed:  
1\. One of the temple's arms ("Practicing.")  
2\. The little stationery shop that preceded the Big Donut. ("Collateral damage.")  
3\. Many, many Gems. ("Enemy.")  
4\. Trust. ("Good idea at the time.")

Was it any wonder that Pearl didn't want them to fuse again? She couldn't believe Garnet had suggested it. She remembered the last time that Sugilite had rampaged through the town -- and it was a rampage, no matter how politely Rose had phrased it. Steven's first experiences with fusion should be positive. Plus, Sugilite always got carried away. It wasn't a good fusion. It wasn't like Opal, or Garnet and Pearl's fusion. You could reason with them. In Sugilite, Amethyst's and Garnet's worst traits were magnified. Sugilite was difficult and frankly kind of terrifying. Pearl was sure they could find another way to solve the problem. Was television really that important?

Amethyst screamed with delight. Garnet wouldn't listen to reason. Pearl and Steven stood in Sugilite's shadow and Pearl felt cold with worry. She grabbed Steven and fled. When Sugilite was done destroying things, she could come and apologize.

Pearl might not even say, "I told you so."


	38. Coach Steven 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. Pearl has a different kind of strength.

There were different kinds of strength. Pearl tried to explain this to Steven. A good team was balanced and thoughtful, and each member worked together to make something that was stronger as a group than they ever could be individually. The strength was in their numbers, and their individual skills, not their bodies.

Steven liked explosions and dogs who were helicopters and Sugilite, even though she was destructive and rude. He wasn't old enough to understand that Pearl had her own strength, just as valuable, and Pearl was surprised by how much that hurt her feelings. She always wanted to be an example to him, to show him the kind of Gem he could be -- the kind his mother was. Rose Quartz wasn't the strongest, physically, in the group; that had always been Garnet, who always operated with the power of two. But Rose was the heart, and that took an intelligence and willingness to give herself that few could ever match.

Pearl couldn't take Rose's place in the group. But she did her best to hold them together, even when Amethyst was being irritating or Garnet was being impassive.

She wanted him to understand. Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. But she wouldn't quit trying.

There was a lot of power in not surrendering.


	39. Joking Victim 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadie gen. Sadie hires Steven temporarily.

> No way, it’s your turn. I cleaned the last five “Stevens”.

Steven was their best customer. Sometimes he made a mess, sometimes he made them laugh. It was a trade-off. Sadie's mom told stories about being attacked by rude neighbors and dogs, climbing steep driveways and meeting a lot of people in their underwear. (Often, she said, in the early afternoon, when people really ought to be dressed already.) Comparatively, Steven was easy.

Sadie felt bad as soon as the words left her mouth. She didn't want Steven to think that they made fun of him behind his back, although that was kind of what they were doing. She wanted him to come back, and not just because of his quest to try all of their donuts. He was a good kid, and he didn't seem to have a lot of friends that weren't aliens.

So when Steven offered to help, she said yes. It couldn't hurt to give him a chance for an afternoon -- and if he made any messes, then he could help clean them up. Plus, he tended to be a lot nicer than Lars was lately. Lars usually didn't bother, since they knew each other so well, but she knew he'd have her back. When she made manager, which she was determined to do this year, she was sure he'd be impressed.

And if he wasn't, well, he could at least clean up the next bit of Steven chaos that spilled into their lives. He owed her.


	40. Joking Victim 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Smiley/OMC. Some speculation on Mr. Smiley's life and character.

5 facts about Mr. Smiley--

1\. Mr. Harold Smiley won karaoke every other Monday at Beach City Music. He only won every other Monday because he was a generous guy, and didn't go every week. 

2\. The other Monday was the day his knitting group met, anyway.

3\. He was saving up to make another demo tape to take with him to Kansas. Once he closed the arcade up for the day, he always vacuumed carefully, looking for any quarters that a kid might have dropped. Every little bit helped.

4\. There was no Mrs. Smiley. He and his husband Ryan lived quietly on the outskirts of Beach City. Ryan was a dentist, and he sometimes had occasion to show a video that Harold had made for him about the dangers of gingivitis. It was one of Mr. Smiley's favorite videos, because it had been really hard to come up with rhymes for gingivitis.

5\. Sometimes he and Greg talked shop for hours. It was really great to have another musician around Beach City. Before Greg had shown up, there hadn't even been anyone worth beating at karaoke.


	41. Steven and the Stevens 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. The aftermath of time travel is confusing, but the Gems have Steven's back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who has given me prompts on tumblr so far! I will get to those hopefully soon.

When they got home, Steven flopped down on the couch and refused to move. He put his damp arm over his eyes.

"I don't understand what just happened," he said, voice muffled by his coat.

Garnet wrung water out of her hair and plucked a lobster off of Pearl's back.

"Time travel," she said. "It's... difficult. Probably smashing the hourglass was the best decision."

"I bet it was the most fun, too," Amethyst said. "I want a time travel device!"

"No," Pearl said firmly. She looked at Steven with concern. "Are you going to be all right?"

Steven didn't move. "I guess," he said after a while. "But Steven told me that Dad can't make it to Beachapalooza. So I guess I'm not going." He sighed.

"...Why don't you get out of those wet clothes?" Pearl suggested after a moment. "Then we can figure out the beach... thing."

"Beachapalooza," Garnet said.

Steven leveraged himself off the couch and slunk up to his room. Pearl's worried eyes followed him.

"Do you still have that violin, Pearl?" Amethyst asked.

"Oh, sure, it's in my room," she answered, laughing a little. "I'm surprised you remember it, I haven't played in quite a while."

"I have a keytar," Garnet said.

"That settles it," Amethyst said, and before Pearl could protest that she was uninterested in forming a band, Steven rushed back down the steps with stars in his eyes. She could never say no to that face.

"That's perfect!" he said. "Thank you thank you thank you!"

Pearl swept him into a hug which he soon squirmed out of to take charge.

"First things first!" he said, "a name!"

They already had a pretty good one, as far as Pearl was concerned, but she played along.


	42. Monster Buddies 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Garnet gen. Pearl wants to go back to the temple immediately.

Pearl didn't retreat into her gem when what felt like the entire mountainside fell onto them, but it was a near thing. Garnet had managed to shield her from the worst of it, but she was covered in dust and debris and Garnet's gem was pressing into her head painfully, but she wasn't too damaged. She picked her way out and helped Garnet yank Amethyst out of the wreckage. It was a miracle that none of their gems had been badly damaged, but once she'd determined that, she lit into Garnet.

"You sent him back to the temple by himself!" she said, gesturing. Garnet stared at her.

"He was in danger," Garnet said.

"Tons of danger," Amethyst agreed, picking chunks of rock out of her hair.

"The temple is dangerous too!" Pearl protested. "Every time he goes in there he almost gets hurt. It's not safe for him to be there unsupervised. We need to go back."

"No," Garnet said, "we _need_ to get the Shooting Star." She crossed her arms.

"He's in a bubble, what harm can he get into?" Amethyst pointed out. Pearl glared.

"I hope you remembered to put air in that bubble," she snapped, wiping dust off her shirt.

Garnet was silent.

"Garnet, you did--"

"He'll be fine," Garnet said firmly. "We'll be back very soon. How much trouble could he possibly get into in the next hour?"

Pearl frowned, but reluctantly backed down. She could hear Rose's voice in her head, reassuring. _Garnet will make the difficult choices. Trust her._

Pearl tried. Some days it was easier than others.

Ten minutes later, Garnet grabbed her by the sash and threw her back towards the portal; they were gone before she could demand an explanation.


	43. Monster Buddies 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Centipeedle gen. This chapter is a bit... experimental.

Hurts. Hurts all the time. Before had been no hurting. Before had been nothing. Before that, something else. Doesn't remember. All gone. Gem hurts. Jaws drip. Had been taller. Had more eyes. Had less legs. Maybe.

Hadn't been alone. Alone now. Alone always now. No rest. Too small, nowhere to hide. No babies. No safe. Talking. Can't talk back. Strange smells. Quiet voice.

Shouting! Danger! Danger! Hissing! Fear. Stay back. Go away. Alone. Sad alone, safe alone. Hurting more.

Quiet voice. Cold. Tied! Can't get out! Hurting soon! Alonealonealonealone.

Food. Hopeful. Protect! Protect baby. Keep baby. She needs. Save her. Always.

Happy.


	44. Monster Buddies 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Centipeedle gen. Steven tries really hard to heal Centipeedle.

It took a long time for Steven to figure out how to heal the Centipeedle. He'd gotten a good start on it the first time, but every time he popped her bubble, he had to start over again. It turned into a regular summer project. He spent hours online reading about training animals, and then, at Connie's suggestion, about PTSD and emotional damage. Even though he had to look up the hard words, he thought it was helpful.

His second attempt had been better. The Centipeedle stayed out of her gem for three whole days, eating chips and firing acidic saliva at anything she perceived as remotely dangerous. But she didn't try to attack Steven, and as long as no one pointed a weapon at her, she was an agreeable companion. One afternoon he sat with her on the couch watching Youtube videos, and he was pretty sure he heard her laugh at least once. Could have been a sneeze, but he was pretty sure she laughed.

And then he lost her. She panicked in a sudden thunderstorm, running outside and disappearing into the darkness. Lion brought her gem back a few hours later.

Steven kept trying. He began to learn what she liked -- salty snacks, warm corners, privacy when she needed a break. She hardly ever burned him by accident anymore. Sometimes, she seemed to get overstimulated, and would retreat into her gem for a rest. But Steven never minded. He always tried to get in a lick or two just in case she needed healing where he couldn't see.

He was napping on the couch one day when a shadow fell over him, and when he opened his eyes, a stranger was standing there. She had wild white hair, and he was beaming even before she spoke.

"I'm Jade," she said, "and I feel like I've met you before..."

Steven picked her up in a hug, and this time, she could hug him back.


	45. An Indirect Kiss 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight Rose/Garnet, mentioned Ruby/Sapphire, mostly Garnet gen. During the war, Garnet fights until she can't fight any longer.

Garnet said nothing. She clutched her hand tightly and kept fighting, her whole body aching and pulsing, her arm unresponsive. She knew that she was going to collapse soon, and who knew what then? Would an opponent take the time to crack the other gem, to guarantee that she'd never exist again, either as Garnet or her component elements? She'd been Garnet so long that she couldn't stand to think about an alternative where she could never exist again. Ruby and Sapphire strove to be together forever. Garnet fought for that, and for Rose, and perhaps, a little, for Earth.

She was not Ruby and Sapphire's child, but she liked what the humans did when they combined their own selves. It was beautiful, in a way, like she was.

Garnet fought until she could hardly see and when she collapsed, she punched at ankles and tentacles and knees until her hand would no longer work. She woke in Rose's arms.

Garnet looked up into a halo of pink hair and saw Rose's upside-down smile. Rose was holding Garnet's hand in hers, the damaged Gem, oh so gently.

"You've been so brave," she said to Garnet. "Thank you."

Rose lifted her hand to reveal the gemstone, whole and perfect. Garnet didn't move, suddenly weighted down by the gift that Rose had given her. She didn't know what to say in response. What could you say to someone who has saved three lives in you? How could you show the gratitude that action deserved?

Rose shifted, moving Garnet's body gently until she was hugging Garnet from behind. Garnet felt like she could drown in the softness surrounding her. They weren't normally affectionate like this -- Garnet tended to cultivate a careful distance from the other Gems, knowing that long-term fusions repulsed them. Rose had always accepted her as she was, and as she could be, but even so Garnet wasn't her closest confidant. Garnet was fine with that. She clenched her fist to feel the gem on her palm tingle as if in answer.

Then she twisted around to hug Rose back, before extracting herself from Rose's grip to bow in her direction. Rose didn't rise from her kneeling position.

"This is only a momentary pause, I'm afraid," she said. "They will attack again before the planet's dawn. Please find your team and check in with Pearl and let her know who is left. And if you see any shards--"

"I'll grab them. Promise," Garnet said. "...Thanks."

She could feel Rose's gaze on her until she crossed the rocks and stepped out of view.


	46. An Indirect Kiss 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie gen, 5 times Connie did something unexpected.
> 
> This was written several weeks before Sworn to the Sword and I decided not to clean it up to match what actually happened in canon, but I did definitely get some ideas from Tumblr theorists before the episode came out, so thanks to those folks.
> 
> There's a further thank-you at the end of this chapter but I put it at the end because it's a spoiler.

1\. 

She wore her glasses for three more months. The day after the disastrous dinner with Steven's family, she took them off and didn't put them back on. Her mother didn't notice for almost an entire day, which made her all the more flustered when she demanded to know what had happened to them.

"Did you break them? I won't be mad, you're about due for another pair," her mother said. "But you need to be honest with me."

She gave Connie that look that always made Connie feel like she wanted to crawl into a hole. Connie swallowed.

"No," she began slowly, "Steven has healing spit and he fixed my eyes. It's because of his Gem heritage."

Connie's mother stared at her daughter for a long moment. Her father coughed, giving her mother a look. After a moment, Connie's mother nodded.

"I'll make you an appointment for next week, just to be sure," she said.

Connie breathed a sigh of relief into her salad.

*

2.

"Fencing? But you're doing so well at tennis!" her father protested. "You very nearly won your last bout. You can't give up now!"

"Please, Dad? It just looks so cool -- "; Connie paused and edited, _when Pearl does it_ out of her sentence, "-- on TV, I want to try."

"Well," her father said, considering, "it's not as if it's really dangerous..."

"You wear masks and the tip is blunted," Connie said, having done some research online.

"Let me talk to your mother," her father said, and Connie knew she'd won.

*

3.

"Try it," Steven said. He pushed a squishy bit into her hand. It was still hot from the fryer. Connie wrinkled her nose.

"Why don't you just eat regular fries?" she asked. Steven grinned. Peedee leaned forward and spoke along with him, "'Because it's more fun this way!'" Peedee gave her a long-suffering look, and Connie stifled a giggle.

"No respect for the working man," Peedee said, and Steven laughed, popping another fry bit in his mouth.

"Come on, Connie, just one!" he said, and she shrugged and ate the crunchy little bit. It was... delicious.

"I want my own bag," she said to Peedee, and he just sighed.

*

4.

"Duck!" Connie shouted, and Steven hit the dirt. Above his head, he could hear the clash of her sword, of Rose's sword in her hand. It fit there perfectly, and as soon as he'd seen her holding it, he knew he had to give it to her.

But not to fight. Steven would never have asked for her to fight bad Gems along with him; that was his job, after all. But this creature had appeared so suddenly that Steven hadn't had time to find her somewhere safe to be. And when the corrupted Gem had knocked his shield out of his grasp, he wasn't sure what he was going to. He knew he had to protect her, at least until the rest of the Gems showed up.

Connie's shadow passed over him and Steven scrabbled to his feet, hurrying to help. He watched in amazement as she carefully flicked her sword and popped the orange gem from the bird's wing. Its body disappeared immediately, and Connie dropped the sword in her rush to catch the gem in her hands. She was breathing hard, strands falling out of her braid, and he could see a few clawmarks on her legs, but she was astonishingly unscathed.

"I think it was just a little one," Connie said to him, and held out the gem for his inspection. "I didn't break it for good, did I?"

The gem was barely chipped. Steven took it from her and tucked it in his pocket, and then hugged her hard.

"You're so cool!" he said, and he could hear the voices of Pearl and Amethyst coming across the sand in a hurry, Pearl's voice raised with tension. Garnet appeared first, taking in the scene with a sweep of her gaze. After a moment, she nodded slowly.

"Thanks for your assistance," she said to Connie. Steven would have given her a parade, and in fact he did walk around in circles for a while afterwards, 'leading' Lion and banging on pots.

"I just did what I had to," Connie said, still surprised at herself; she'd been training with Pearl for a while but she'd always thought of it as an academic exercise. She could imagine fighting monsters or rescuing princesses from her books, but she'd never thought she'd get the chance. That was Steven's thing.

Maybe it was her thing too.

*

5.

Connie's mother wanted her to become a doctor or a lawyer. She said that Connie had the talent, and her sense of justice would serve her well in either career. Connie knew that was quite a compliment from her parents, so she enrolled in the pre-med track during her first year of university.

She liked college. She'd gone to a school up the coast, too far away to visit every weekend, but close enough to come home for holidays. She spent an hour on the phone with Steven every weekend. Making new friends didn't seem as scary as it had when she was younger, and she joined a club. Her roommate was friendly but obsessive over her grades. It could be worse.

"You keep saying that," Steven said, finally, his voice scratchy on the line; he was sitting out on the beach in the early evening, and she could almost feel the wind if she shut her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Connie asked.

"About your school -- you keep saying it could be worse. Doesn't that mean it could be better?" he asked.

She opened her mouth, and then shut it. Of course, Steven had always been homeschooled, so maybe he didn't understand that this was a real opportunity to her. But then again, no one knew her half as well.

"...Maybe," Connie said. "Can I call you back later?"

He agreed, and Connie went for a walk. Then she wrote in her journal, thought about what her parents would say, and called him back.

"I want to write books," she said, without saying hello. "For kids, like the ones we used to read all the time."

"Like Spirit Morph Saga!" Steven said, excited. "You're going to see the new movie with me when you come home for Thanksgiving, right?"

"Definitely," she said, and started laughing, even though he hadn't said anything funny.

"What is it?" Steven asked.

"It's going to be amazing!" Connie said, and after she got off the phone with him, she stayed up all night re-reading the first book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With thanks to [Tat_Tat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Tat_Tat), who gave me her headcanon that Connie would be a children's book author and let me run with it.


	47. Mirror Gem 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg gen. Greg experiences unusual pushback when it comes time to enroll Steven in school.

"Don't worry," Pearl told Greg. "He'll get a marvelous education with us. Why waste all that time enrolled in human school?" She wrinkled her nose, and Greg felt small. Pearl did that to him sometimes, and he was pretty sure she didn't realize it, so most of the time he didn't say anything.

"He has to be able to function in both our worlds," Greg protested.

"Oh, yes," Pearl said, sounding distracted. Greg could hear his son's feet thumping on the stairs, and soon Steven threw himself into his dad's arms.

"Dad, Dad!" he said, excited. "Come see my new room!"

Greg had seen it two weeks ago when Steven moved in with the Gems, and almost every day since, but the fun still hadn't worn off for his son, so Greg followed him up the little staircase and oohed and aahed in the right places. He missed having Steven with him all the time, but the older he became, the more likely he was to manifest his powers, and in an uncontrolled manner. That was what Garnet had told him when he came to her and told her that he was seeing weird flashes of pink light sometimes when Steven got excited. It hadn't been too long after that when they showed Greg the furniture that they'd moved into the empty house, and asked him to make sure that they had everything a growing boy would need.

After showing Greg his room, Steven started talking about his Gem training, speaking so fast that Greg could hardly understand him -- assuming he'd have any idea what Steven was talking about, anyway. Rose had explained some of it to him, but when it came to the technical details, she'd waved a hand and told him that the Crystal Gems would take care of it.

They ate dinner together, hot dogs and a glass of milk, and then Steven curled up with him to watch TV. He was asleep before it had gotten dark outside. Greg gently put him to bed. He wondered where Amethyst and Garnet were, but Pearl was here -- at least they hadn't left Steven on his own.

"I do really want to have a talk about this school thing," Greg said when he was leaving, pausing with a hand on the doorframe. "Maybe with the others around. Kindergarten is just a half day -- "

Pearl's eyes widened, and he stopped, confused at her sudden stiffness.

"Pearl?"

"We'll talk about it later," Pearl said, and that was a dismissal if he'd ever heard one. Greg stood on the step, looking into the firmly shut door. All of the lights were off. He sighed, and after a moment, started walking back toward the beach.

He could teach Steven some of the basics this winter, maybe, while the car wash wasn't busy. That way he wouldn't be behind next year. Reading and basic math. What else did they learn in kindergarten, anyway?

By the time he got back to the van he wasn't even annoyed anymore. The Gems did have a point -- he certainly didn't want Steven hurting anyone at school, even accidentally. The kid would be devastated. He could wait a while longer.

He'd go looking through the storage unit to see if he had any kids books tomorrow. That'd be a good start.


	48. Mirror Gem 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet gen. Garnet chased after Steven, worried about what the mirror had told him.

It had him. That was the only explanation. Steven had never tried to hit any of them before. But a corrupted Gem -- the mirror had to be one -- it could talk someone onto a bad path, especially someone as vulnerable as Steven. Garnet had seen it many times before. But she couldn't panic. She held onto the anger that she felt at the mirror and followed Steven.

She wasn't mad at him, not at all. Never. He hadn't hurt her, and even if he'd actually been trying, she still wouldn't be upset. He'd lashed out because of the mirror: who knew what it had been telling him? What if it had been telling him about all the things it had seen?

Garnet knew everything it had seen, everything it could show, if it wanted to. She ran faster.


	49. Mirror Gem 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis gen. Lapis spent a very long time in the mirror, hating every moment of it.

Lapis woke to herself with the ocean lapping at her ankles. It was everything she'd craved, desperately, while she was waiting to be set free. She'd dreamed of water -- if you could call it dreaming. It was more of a waking nightmare. She didn't trust herself enough for deep sleep, afraid that she would slip away from herself and never emerge again. She was a mirror, reflecting only what she had seen, but it was enough to keep her awake.

She wasn't sure how long she waited to be remembered and rescued. Time moved funnily in the mirror, and what use did she have for counting it, usually? And she was woozy, as well -- her gem was cracked, and holding her mind together was all she could do, most days. She didn't know who had cracked her, who had put her into the mirror, but she would find out. As soon as someone let her out, they would understand the mistake they had made. She thought and obsessed and felt dry and impatient and aching.

Sometimes people looked at her. She tried to respond to their requests when she could understand them. Anything to get them to free her. She would have given away the whole Gem fleet if it could have freed her. But no one paid attention to her for long, and soon she was alone again. She memorized their faces, and their names.

"Harmless," Pearl said.

"Broken," Amethyst said.

"Useless," Garnet said.

"Let's keep it for now," Rose said.

Rose might have seen her -- Lapis knew she was a skilled general, and she rarely missed anything. But Rose had other concerns. Soon the mirror was placed somewhere else in their temple, and for a long time, it did not move. Lapis reflected bare walls and waited and hated and _hated_.

When Steven found her, he paid attention. He didn't act like any Gem Lapis had ever met, but she didn't care. He saw her, and he was going to free her, and then they could escape.

There was water in the air. There was the smell of salt and the sound of waves and everything she wanted desperately when she was trapped. She wanted to dance in the sand but she didn't have time. She reached out to Steven, but he didn't take her hand.

It would have been nice to have an ally on the planet, but no matter. She wouldn't let them capture her again. She let the ocean waves cover her like a blanket, and began walking toward home.


	50. Ocean Gem 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg, Garnet, and baby Steven. Greg attempts to have a conversation about parenting with Garnet.

"I told Steven we wouldn't cancel his visit, but he's grounded, so no TV, all right?" Greg said to Garnet when she answered the door. Steven was frowning a little, but didn't complain as Greg shepherded him in.

"Can I play with Amethyst?" he asked Garnet.

"She and Pearl should be back any minute. Why don't you go get your toys ready?" Garnet suggested, and he raced past her up the stairs to the loft. He didn't have a bed there yet, but soon enough he would need one. Greg hoped it wouldn't be this year, but he trusted the Gems to judge.

"Grounded?" Garnet said to Greg. Greg scratched the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I hate to do it, but he's that age where he has to challenge everything. He refused to take his bath last night, so I told him no TV for three days."

"I could convince him," Garnet said confidently, but Greg shook his head.

"It's the principle of the thing, you know? I'm his dad, and he has to understand that I'm trying to do the best thing for him, even when he doesn't like it."

"I see," Garnet said, and she was silent for a moment.

"Is... is that how you guys handle discipline? As Gems?" Greg asked. Garnet never said a single unnecessary word. Sometimes that unnerved him a bit and he started asking questions just to break the silence.

"No," Garnet said.

Steven had evidently tired of waiting for company; Greg could hear him making whoosh sounds up in the loft, probably flying one of his figures around.

"Yours is better," Garnet said, and before she could elaborate any further, the portal lit up and Amethyst and Pearl appeared, a conversation-ending distraction. He promised to be back in a few hours to pick Steven up, and he left.

That night, when he told Steven it was time for a bath, his son didn't protest, and instead he made up an elaborate story about Gems walking underwater to complete a mission. At least, Greg hoped it was a story; Steven needed oxygen.

"Glug glug!" Steven said, with emphasis, voicing the rubber duck he had shoved under the surface, and Greg just watched him.


	51. Ocean Gem 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. Driving across the desert that used to be the ocean, Pearl is left alone with her thoughts.

"It's not Garnet's favorite song," Pearl said, diplomatically, as they watched through the window as Garnet rolled away. "But I'm sure she'll catch up."

"Really?" Greg said. "I bet she's more into grunge."

Pearl looked at Amethyst, who shrugged. "Sure?" Pearl said.

"Are you sure we shouldn't wait for her?"

"Nah," Amethyst said with a laugh. "If she can't put up with it, she can walk. Turn it up, Greg!"

Greg did, obligingly, and Pearl's protests were swallowed by the sound. Only a moment later, there was a heavy thump on top of the van, and Greg skidded to a stop. Before he'd quit moving, Pearl and Amethyst had squeezed out of the back, preparing to draw their weapons.

Garnet waved sheepishly from on top of the van.

"Caught up," she said.

Amethyst thumped the driver's door, and slowly Greg lifted his head to look through the window.

"All clear," she said.

It was about then that Lion skidded into their space, and then sat down abruptly, dumping Connie and Steven off into the sand. Deliberately, he licked his paw. Steven helped Connie up.

"What's going on?" Steven asked. "I thought we were going to find the ocean! Quit clowning around, guys!"

"Steven's right," Garnet said, and Pearl gave her a look which had no effect at all on Garnet's expression.

"I'll drive for a while," Pearl said, and they clambered back into the van. Steven convinced Lion to stand again and follow.

They made their way out across the empty ocean floor to find Lapis, unsure what would happen when they did, but positive that it had to be done. Pearl wasn't thrilled about having humans along, but it would have been more work to dissuade them. She just hoped she'd packed enough water into the van's debris.

In the backseat, Amethyst and Greg listened to his old CD Walkman, and Pearl was left alone to think as the van crept across the sand.

There were other things she should tell Steven before they found Lapis. Things they should have told him a long time ago. There was never the right time, and this wasn't it either, but Pearl was beginning to think there never really would be the perfect time. She'd just have to wing it. It was very possible that the Lapis they found wouldn't be the Lapis he'd met. With her Gem cracked like that, she could become a corrupted being anytime.

"We're always fighting Gems, actually," she said, and breathed out.


	52. Ocean Gem 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. Sometimes the fight was harder than other times.
> 
> _"All those monsters we fight used to be just like us! Right, Pearl?"_
> 
> _"Yes. But they've become corrupted and broken. We have to take care of them, subdue them, contain them. It's the best we can do for them, for now. If we don't, then..."_

Rose's army was small, even at its height. Of course, most of the Gems they fought against were strangers. It was rare that the Crystal Gems met a corrupted Gem that they had once known.

Usually it was easy enough to forget that the monsters had been people. They attacked without provocation, and didn't seem to know or care that the Gems were there to help. They looked like native fauna or something more alien, and they couldn't communicate.

But sometimes they fought someone they remembered. Pearl was glad that Steven had been asleep when Garnet came and fetched her from her room. Garnet had been quiet, almost grim, as they traveled, and now Pearl knew why.

Pearl hadn't known this Gem well. She was a Charoite, a front line combatant Pearl hadn't spoken with much, but they'd been in the war together. Pearl had come out on the other side, and Charoite hadn't. There was no mistaking the gem embedded in her left wrist, even though the wrist had become a paw and the paw had very sharp claws on it. The beast shrieked and Pearl pretended to herself that it didn't sound like a being screaming.

"Come on, P, back me up!" Amethyst shouted, darting forward, and Pearl followed. She pushed all the feelings down and away until she felt nothing but the grip of her spear in her hands. It was easier numb. It was easier because she hardly remembered Charoite, but she wished she hadn't remembered her at all.

The fight didn't last very long, and Garnet bubbled the cracked gem without a hint of remorse. Sometimes Pearl was jealous of her safely hooded gaze, the way she could hide what she felt so easily. Pearl often drew strength from Garnet's silent, constant form, but she wasn't feeling a connection tonight. Now that the threat was over, she just wanted to be alone.

Amethyst seemed to sense the mood in the air (for once), and she was quiet on their walk back to the warp portal. She ran ahead in an animal shape, letting Garnet and Pearl fall behind. They didn't talk, but after a while, Garnet reached out and found Pearl's hand. She tucked it around her bicep.

"That was--" Pearl said.

"I know," Garnet said. Her muscle flexed under Pearl's hand.

They said nothing else about it, but Pearl didn't let go until they were back in the temple.


	53. House Guest 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Greg gen. Pearl has been helping Greg fix the van for a long time.

Pearl had fixed the van plenty of times over the years. It had broken down at least a dozen times since Greg had been in Beach City, and Rose had always told her that she had a talent for fixing mechanical devices. Pearl was no technician, but she checked out a few books from the Beach City Library, and then she got to work.

Pearl wouldn't say she was talented in this arena, but she found it very satisfying to fiddle around with screws and pieces until the motor coughed to life. It was fun in the way that arranging flowers in a vase was fun, or making groups of objects symmetrical. She was happiest when things worked as they should.

Usually Greg could perform the easier repairs on his own, although he sometimes asked her for a second opinion. She had been surprised, the first time, to find how pleasant it could be to work alongside him. He wasn't a Gem, but he wasn't so bad for a human. She didn't see what Rose saw in him, but he was at least intelligent and conversational. Plus, she could usually talk him into doing the more dirty parts of maintenance.

One cool fall afternoon Pearl picked up the phone and Greg told her that the van refused to start. They figured out it was the battery, and after they made their way back to the car wash with the new one in tow, Greg put it in and Pearl sat in the front seat, waiting for him to be ready for her to turn the key. He waved a hand in signal and she did. The engine caught almost immediately, and she was about to get out and survey the results of their work when Greg appeared at the driver's side door.

"Do you know how to drive?" he asked curiously.

"In a theoretical sense, I suppose," Pearl answered. She knew what all of the knobs and dials were for, and how they allowed for some primitive manipulation of the vehicle. She'd watched Greg drive many times.

"Just a sec!" he said, disappearing, and then he was climbing into the passenger seat and gesturing at her to go.

"Are you sure?" Pearl asked.

"Course I'm sure," Greg said, leaning back in the passenger seat and smiling at her with confidence. "Haven't you ever wanted to try it?"

The floorboards were warm on Pearl's feet, and she could feel them vibrating a little with the motion of the engine. She adjusted the seat and mirrors, and then fastened her seatbelt carefully. Greg waited without complaint.

Then she put the van into drive and eased up on the brake. Just like that, she was operating a human vehicle. As she suspected, it wasn't difficult to pick up. She was in command of this enormous hunk of metal.

"You can drive faster," Greg offered. "Twenty-five or so. Give it a shot."

Pearl pressed down on the gas and the van shot forward. She heard Greg laugh, and found herself laughing too. Her second attempt at slow speed went a little better. She turned onto the main road with a minimum of fuss and drove down the street.

"I guess it's... it's not like driving a spaceship or anything," Greg said after a moment of silence.

"I rarely did that," Pearl admitted. She placed her hands carefully on the steering wheel. Behind them, someone honked.

"Don't panic," Greg said, when she started. He rolled down his window and waved for the person to go around. They drove past hurriedly. Pearl frowned.

"They aren't obeying the laws," she said to Greg. Greg just laughed.

"That guy is always in a hurry. But we're not. Take your time, car wash is closed today."

They drove up toward the temple, slowly and surely, and Pearl even parked without injuring anyone. When she turned the van off, she was casual handing Greg back his keys. She got out. He scrambled around awkwardly to the driver's side.

"Fun afternoon," he said. "Let's do it again sometime!"

"Sure," Pearl said, and she actually meant it.


	54. House Guest 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg and Steven gen. Greg takes a drive with his baby son.

The important thing was, he wasn't alone. That's what everyone kept telling him. At three a.m., though, he felt like there weren't any other people in the world -- just him and Steven, the baby sleeping gently in his arms.

They were parked not far off the boardwalk, and Greg had opened the back of the van and was sitting there on the tailgate watching the stars. The town was quiet. Whenever Steven was fussy and wouldn't sleep, Greg drove around the town until Steven dozed off. It had worked on Greg when he was a baby, according to his mother, and he was glad it worked on Steven too. He probably should have left Steven in the car seat and driven back to their apartment, but now he couldn't sleep.

He'd thought that taking care of a baby without Rose would be terrifying. Rose always had all the right answers, no matter what she was doing. She would have been a wonderful mother. She'd told him he would be the best dad, and he was trying. Taking care of the baby wasn't as difficult as he expected -- there were only a few things that a baby needed, and usually it was easy to tell what was wrong. It was everything else involved with raising a child that scared him. Even if his son had been entirely human, he would have worried about what he was teaching him, and the person he'd grow up to be.

Steven sighed in his sleep. Greg held his breath so he could hear Steven breathe. He put a hand on Steven's gem, huge on his tiny belly under his onesie.

"You're going to be someone amazing," Greg said to Steven, and he listened to the waves rock back and forth and thought about the future.


	55. House Guest 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet and Greg gen. Garnet doesn't tell him everything; he doesn't need to know about the war.

"If you blow in it, the warp pad will activate and will alert us that we need to return," Garnet said. There was a light in Greg's eyes, and a nipping at the edge of her future sight that told Garnet this was a bad idea. But there was nothing to be done about it now. He'd play the basic tones and he'd never know that they all had a name and a purpose.

The rapid tweeting that meant someone needed backup -- that was a sound Garnet still heard while meditating sometimes, or perhaps dreaming, and it never ceased to make her heart pound a little faster.

They had had commands for retreat, commands for ambush, commands for backup and scouting ahead. The whistle wasn't subtle, and the Homeworld gems learned their patterns, so they had to keep changing them. But Garnet remembered all of them. She remembered the way the whistle sounded when cut off abruptly, and the tweeting brightness of a rare victory. She remembered jumping into the warp pad and coming out on lands wracked with violence and silent with loss. She never knew what she would be walking into, but she knew that she would come when the whistle called. No one would use it frivolously.

If the future she was seeing was right, no one would use it frivolously again, not after Greg realized his mistake. But it didn't matter what he did, because Garnet was going to take the whistle and bubble it somewhere in the burning room, where she never had to hear it again.


	56. House Guest 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Amethyst gen. Rose tells Amethyst about the baby.

Amethyst hadn't understood what Rose's pregnancy meant, not at first. They sat in Rose's room together, resting on the clouds, and Rose explained. Rose had been patient answering questions until Amethyst understood what was ahead for them. She climbed into Rose's lap and Rose held her. Once Amethyst had cried herself out, Rose started talking to her about human family structure.

"He'll need a big sister to guide him," Rose told Amethyst. "Someone to teach him and encourage him, like Pearl and Garnet did for you when we found you. Do you think you can do that? You can teach him how to be a Crystal Gem."

Amethyst wiped her nose on the back of her hand. "But Pearl and Garnet will be there to do that," she said. "Right?"

"Of course," Rose reassured her. "But they've been Crystal Gems for thousands of years, and they might not remember how hard it is in the beginning, when you're just feeling out your powers and trying to belong. That's when you can reassure him."

"But won't you be able to help him, too?" Amethyst asked. She reached out and rested her fingers on Rose Quartz's gem.

Rose shook her head. "I won't be able to talk with him. He won't remember anything that happened around my gem. Entirely new memories." Her smile was a little sad.

"I'll have to teach him a lot!" Amethyst said, sitting up straight as she realized the challenge. Rose wrapped her hand around Amethyst's and pressed it to her slowly increasing stomach.

"I know you'll do a great job," Rose said.

Amethyst wasn't so sure. Her hand was pressed against the warmth of Rose Quartz's gem, and all she could think about was getting away. Maybe if she left, she could pretend that nothing was going to change. Rose would look for her instead of having a baby. Pearl would scold her and cry and squeeze her too tight. Garnet would buy her ice cream and let her win while sparring. Nothing had to be different.

But everything was going to be. The best part of running away was always coming back, and if she did that, then this would all still happen. There was no preventing it.

Rose sang her a song, and Amethyst tried to memorize everything about her. How could she ever explain someone like her to the baby? The baby would definitely be missing out, and Amethyst couldn't make up the difference.

But Rose believed in her, so she was going to try.


	57. House Guest 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg gen. Greg tries to make up for his mistakes.

Greg was not an ambitious man, not anymore. He was totally fine with that part of his personality. He didn't need to be president, or a rock star, or a CEO. As long as he could be with his son and play music, he'd be happy in his life. He never expected to get mixed up in the kind of things that could improve or destroy the world. This, perhaps, more than anything, showed how much he loved Rose Quartz. When she'd told him who she was, and what the Gems had done, he didn't run away. He stayed there, and when Rose left him with Steven, he kept living his life the best way he could.

He tried not to let on how scared he was for his son and the strange life he'd been born into. Steven always seemed so excited when he was going on missions, and never mentioned the near-misses and violence. He'd spent a good hour describing his new goat friend and neglected to mention that Amethyst and Garnet's fusion had nearly beaten him up. He'd only heard about that later, when Garnet apologized to him and promised to do better.

He knew she'd keep that promise, but he worried that one of these days, something would happen that Steven couldn't bounce back from. Greg didn't know what he would do if that happened. It had been hard enough to lose the love of his life; the idea of losing his son was inconceivable.

He thought -- it was selfish, sure -- but he thought that maybe they could spend some time together and Steven would remember how nice it was to be with his dad, and take a break from Gem adventures. He hated lying about his leg, but it was a small lie, to keep Steven with him. It was worth it.

Or so he'd thought. The look of betrayal in Steven's gaze bit him down to the core. His son had believed in him wholeheartedly, and he'd broken that trust. Steven would forgive him, but that wasn't the point. There'd always be part of Steven that doubted Greg, now.

He'd have to fix it. He didn't know anything about weird Gem stuff, he was terrified of the idea, but maybe if he could repair the damaged... whatever-it-was... Steven would look at him again like he was a hero. He never had too many ambitions, but that was one.

He had the whistle; he had the duct tape. He didn't even take the time to remove the makeshift splint from his leg, because the longer he waited to go, the more excuses he would have to avoid it.

Greg stepped onto the warp pad, and blew the whistle.


	58. Space Race 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg and Steven gen. Greg tries to give Steven a sense of his human family too.

Greg hadn't been out to the old barn in a long time. His aunt and uncle had died when he was still young, and he hadn't been involved in the parceling out of their estate. He wasn't even sure that their things would still be there. He knew that their house had been purchased, but they had owned a lot of land in the area, and he wasn't sure if the barn was included in the sale. But the barn was there, the lock rusty, and he still remembered the combination. He used to come out here and play with his cousins all the time when they were kids. Hide-and-seek was a lot more fun among his relatives' junk.

The barn clearly hadn't been touched in a long time. He stopped by the farmhouse to make sure it was okay to poke around in it, and the elderly woman who owned the place seemed grateful that someone was taking an interest. She gave him permission to use any of the stuff that he'd like, and she gave Steven some dry shortbread cookies besides, which he ate, to make her smile. He was a good kid.

It was funny, Greg thought, as they rummaged through junk and he pulled out his toolbox, how close he'd ended up to his hometown when he'd finally stopped touring and settled in Beach City. When he was young, he'd pictured traveling the world with his band and seeing everything. He'd climbed into the van with Marty and been sure he was going to play music in stadiums across the country.

Instead, they'd toured for four weeks down along the coast, hitting small towns, and he'd ended up in Beach City, which was only a couple hours' drive from his hometown. It'd worked out well, honestly -- after Steven was born, Greg's parents had been a great help with the baby. Greg still took Steven to visit them regularly.

He liked showing Steven his hometown, and his aunt and uncle. He wanted to give Steven a sense of history for his human side as well as his Gem side. Both were important.

"Let's build a spaceship!" Steven shouted, running ahead of him toward the barn, and Greg followed him, smiling.


	59. Space Race 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Steven gen. Pearl longs for space.

Now that Rose was gone, none of the Crystal Gems understood how much Pearl missed space. Garnet was happy as long as she could be herself, on a world that didn't judge her for her fusion status. To Amethyst, space was nothing but another battlefield. Only Rose had understood Pearl's desire to someday go home. Pearl never regretted her decision to follow Rose, even though it meant she was stuck on this backwater planet. But she still ached for home.

And not just for home. For all of the other planets that she'd been to, and the ones she didn't have time to see. For the Gems she'd once worked with, the ones she might have called friends. For the face Steven would make when he saw the stars up close, the universe opening up around him. She wanted to show him everything about being a Gem, about all the worlds Rose had loved and he would adore too.

She should have thought it through. Even if she had been able to create a working spacecraft, their status as Crystal Gems meant that they would be in danger on any Gem-controlled planet. They'd be shot down before landing, as easy as that, or worse, they'd be followed home by a cloaked ship, and the long battle they'd fought for Earth would have been in vain. Pearl knew that the Gem technology now was far beyond Earth's capabilities. The moment that their ship was detected, they'd be lost.

She clutched Steven to her chest and pulled the lever to eject them from the craft. Their bodies jerked as the parachute opened, and she held him tightly. A fall from this height would be fatal. She never wanted to hurt him.

"Look, Steven," she said. "You can see the temple from here." She pointed.

"Home!" he said, and she nodded.


	60. Secret Team 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet gen. Garnet spent a lot of time in the burning room, thinking.

Garnet didn't spend a lot of time in her rooms. They had been constructed individually, with Ruby and Sapphire in mind, and although Garnet was comfortable in them both, she didn't quite fit in either. Not because of her size -- the temple's dimensions allowed for high ceilings and broad spaces -- but because she was not one or the other, but both. And neither of them wanted to separate just to get some rest or to think. They did those things better together, as Garnet.

Garnet used her rooms to store her things, but when she really wanted to think she went to the Burning Room. She'd never expressly forbidden Pearl or Amethyst from entering it, but they never did without a very good reason. It was too hot for Pearl to be comfortable there, and Amethyst had been warned extensively about the danger of touching the burning circle or popping a bubble. Garnet liked the heat and the silence and the roiling of the lava. She often meditated in there, pacing back and forth and considering the possible futures she saw before them. She found the bubbled Gems comforting -- they were preserved safely until a time when they could be healed or released. Perhaps that time would never come, but Garnet suspected more and more that Steven would find a way. Rose had come very close a few times, and she'd brought some of her companions back from the brink of corruption during the war. Steven loved everyone in the same daring way as his mother, and he was still young -- who knew what he would be capable of when he grew up? Rose had seen it, and she didn't even have future vision.

Garnet held the pink bubble in her hands, gently. She could feel it vibrating against the gems in her hands. This Gem had been bubbled long ago, not long after the end of the war when Gem monsters were an even more serious problem than they were now. Rose had done this one, as evidenced by the bright pink color. The bubble was still strong. The Gem inside slept, docile. It was dangerous, perhaps, to touch it, but sometimes Garnet liked to remind herself that Rose had been here, that she had charged Garnet to take care of this place and the other Gems. Garnet would do her duty, like she always had.

She let the bubble go, let it float up to join the rest, and relaxed a little in the dry heat of the room, alone.


	61. Secret Team 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst gen. For the first time, Amethyst had her own room.

"It won't look like very much at first," Pearl said. Amethyst wiggled impatiently. Pearl liked to explain things but Amethyst was too excited to take very much of it in. She wanted to go in already!

"Yeah, yeah," Amethyst said.

Pearl continued, "Likely there will just be some basic gravity, atmosphere, ground, and crystals. The crystals are the real key -- you can manipulate them in a number of ways."

Pearl kept talking and talking and Amethyst just stared past her at the door newly installed on the front of the temple. There were five points on the star, one for each of them, which meant that Amethyst would have her very own space. Her own room, to do with whatever she wanted! Pearl was going on about her own room and how she was going to put in waterfalls and music and a bunch of other stuff, but Amethyst wasn't listening. She just wanted to get in there and see what she could do. Finally Pearl stopped talking when Ruby, Sapphire, and Rose came out of the door. Amethyst got only a glimpse of the room beyond them, which was dim and had red walls.

"Everything is ready," Rose said, sounding pleased. "Pearl, did you explain everything to Amethyst?"

"Yes, of course," Pearl said proudly.

"Well, I won't make you wait any longer," Rose said, smiling. "Go ahead."

Amethyst didn't wait for a future invitation. She darted forward on all fours and pulled herself up against the door. It glowed when it recognized her gem, and then she was inside.

This was even more amazing than she had expected. There wasn't much there, like Pearl had warned her -- just some dirt, some water, and a lot of crystals. But it was huge, and it was hers. Amethyst lay down on the cool dirt and rolled around, just because she could. Pearl had talked about a bunch of things that she could do in here -- she could manipulate the crystals to change the landscape. But really, Amethyst thought it was pretty great already. She just needed to make herself a good hole and she'd be in business. Now she had a place for all her stuff! She emptied out her pockets onto the ground next to her. She didn't have much today, just a shiny rock and a fishing lure, but it was a start. She'd bring in some more stuff later.

"My own room," she said, spreading her arms out, and she went to sleep right there, content.


	62. Secret Team 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet gen. Garnet didn't believe in secret teams.

Garnet wasn't outwardly upset when she met Steven in the pizzeria and he explained what had been going on. Steven didn't understand the history surrounding him, and all he wanted was to fit in, to talk Amethyst and Pearl into getting along with each other. They had been close once, and even if he didn't remember it, he believed the best about them.

But she was furious. She was glad for her glasses and the careful control she'd cultivated over the centuries to maintain her fusion status. She didn't reveal her irritation to Steven. Instead, they worked out a plan and he hurried back to the temple to prepare.

Garnet went outside and punched rocks into glass. She let the anger flow down through her arms into the forgiving ground. She had to get rid of her frustration before she confronted Pearl and Amethyst, both because she never wanted Steven to see her as possibly dangerous to him and because she needed to keep the Crystal Gems together. She'd promised Rose, but even more importantly, someone needed to keep a vigil on Earth. Lapis would come back, this she was certain. And she wouldn't be alone.

She'd let the gulf between Amethyst and Pearl widen into a canyon, both because she didn't know how to make them get along, and because she wasn't sure she should. She'd worked with many Gems she hadn't liked personally, but if they were frustrated enough that the threat of _her_ was what it took to make them band together--

This was how a revolution started. Garnet remembered; she had been there. On the wrong side at first, before Rose had taken Ruby and Sapphire's hands and told them to be the Gem they knew they could be. It started with the mildest dissension, with Gems who thought that wholesale destruction was a waste of valuable time, and that they should just let the native species on a planet die off naturally. And then Rose couldn't stand to watch them die, not this time, and here they were, millennia later. There were only four of them left, and countless Gems allied against them.

Garnet punched until her anger was safely compacted and then she took a deep breath and began walking up the beach.

"Secret team," Steven whispered to her when she picked him up by the scruff of his shirt, and she brushed a kiss to his forehead before opening the door to the inner temple.

"Crystal Gems," she said, firmly, and then began the ruse.


	63. Island Adventure 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lars/Sadie. Sadie was great at taking care of herself. She figured Lars would figure it out eventually.

The thing was, Sadie knew she shouldn't let Lars get away with sleeping at the counter, or coming in late, or the number of other things that he did that made her work life difficult. She knew she gave him too much leeway. It's just that he hated it when she nagged at him, and it always made her guilty. So most of the time, she let him get away with it.

So he wasn't big on island vacations. That was good to know. It meant they'd go skiing on their honeymoon instead, or something. Somewhere he could get better phone reception, and regular meals, and a lot of naps.

She didn't like to say it -- "You could get fired!" she'd shouted at him when they were arguing in the Big Donut. It was true, but it was like an enormous boulder between them. Sadie was the assistant manager, and technically Lars reported to her. She could recommend disciplinary actions to the real manager. She never had, but it was there, a sword of Damocles she never wanted to wield.

Sadie could get things done herself. She always had. With her mother being the mail carrier, she had done latchkey for a long time. She was used to it, even if she'd never had to survive on her own like this. She hadn't done any camping in years, and she'd always had a tent before.

She managed. WIth Steven's unbridled enthusiasm and her refusal to give in, they did well. Even better when Lars began to actually help. She'd known he had it in him. She'd just been waiting for him to see that.

Things would be different when they went back. Now they had this shared experience that would really bond them together, way more than working at the Big Donut had done. They could reminisce about this for years. It would be a great story to tell their kids someday.

She could stand a few more days living rough for that, no problem.


	64. Keep Beach City Weird 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gen. While watching them play Steven Tag, I thought about how weird it was that Pearl never seems to shapeshift.

"Your body is a projection. Project something _else_!" the officer said, and Pearl trembled a little. She didn't open her eyes, sure that everyone was staring at her.

"How helpful are you going to be when you cling to that form? A pearl needs to be able to adapt to any situation!" the officer continued. Pearl wrapped her arms around her waist and desperately tried to change. If she managed to do even a little, the officer would share her ire with someone else. All she had to do was become different. She could do this! She'd mastered projecting scenes from her gem, and this was a similar concept. Instead of pushing out, she needed to draw inwards. Pearl took a deep breath. Keeping her eyes shut, she stretched her arm out, and kept reaching. She wasn't sure if anything was happening, but after a moment, the officer grunted.

"Three hours extra practice," the woman barked at her, and then moved to the next Pearl in the row. Pearl opened her eyes. One of her arms was garishly long, the wrist twisted unnaturally. It looked wrong, and as soon as she saw it, she shifted it back.

The officer moved off down the row. The Pearl to her left hid a snicker behind her hand.

"You need way more practice than that," the Pearl said, and Pearl didn't respond. She counted her fingers and compared the lengths of her arms. They were even and correct. She sighed.

This should be easy. It was well within her skillset. Her gem was clear and undamaged, and she knew the theory. The other Pearls weren't having nearly as much difficulty as she was.

After the others left, Pearl stayed behind. She practiced small changes, patterning her skin and modifying her outfit, but she couldn't talk herself into any major modifications. Jaspers and amethysts walked around her like she wasn't there, caught up in their own missions. She watched them shift as easily as if they were born to it -- which, of course, they all were. Pearl knew there were some Gems who practiced shapeshifting as an art form, changing into beings from dead planets or creatures they invented.

But not Pearl. Not this Pearl. Her use as a squire would be limited. No commanders would want her. Her assignment would be seen as a sign of political disfavor.

She strained, but Pearl was no good at being anyone other than herself.


	65. Keep Beach City Weird 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An excerpt from an educational treatise on the Crystal Gems.

...The presence of the Crystal Gems on Earth has been well-documented in recent centuries, but without firsthand accounts it would be impossible to reconstruct their earliest adventures. When asked, they all declined to be interviewed for this academic work. Most information that we have about their thousands of years of Earth occupation comes from two sources: the blog _Keep Beach City Weird_ , full of wild speculation that hides crumbs of truth, which was archived in the early twenty-first century when the hosting social media platform shut down; and the rare journals of Steven Quartz Universe, the only half-human Gem ever born. Most of Steven's journals were destroyed in the Second Gem War, and many of their adventures were never recorded; he admitted that he wasn't the most reliable correspondent in the scraps we have from Journal 15. Perhaps understanding the Gems' desire for privacy and secrecy, Steven was much more likely to record the meals he ate that day, or a visit with friends, than he was to be explicit about "Gem stuff," especially in his youth. Researchers pored over the entry he wrote after his first fusion experience, which read in its entirety:

"I really like Connie. She and I went dancing and were tall together. I like dancing with her."

From this it is easy to conclude that Stevonnie, as they preferred to be called, was taller than the two children were at the time, and that they enjoyed dancing, like most Gems, but little else. In fact, the only reason that researchers can conclude that this is a Stevonnie reference is that Steven told them so when he donated the journals to the library. When pressed, he could rarely read between the lines of his childhood doodles, and refused to talk about some entries.

 _Keep Beach City Weird_ is an even more difficult source of information to parse. Although Ronaldo Fryman took meticulous notes and was occasionally able to provide video and photographs of the Gems at work, he rarely seemed to speak to them, instead providing his own wild theories. He was convinced of the existence of a race of snake people, which he called sneople, and blamed for much of the Gem activity in his town. Still, the photos and videos are valuable, once one sorts through the dross.

This work is intended to explore and reconstruct the earliest activities of the Crystal Gems on Earth, including the First Gem War, up until the period post Steven's childhood, with a special emphasis on the five core members of the Crystal Gems...


	66. Fusion Cuisine 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: Per Crewniverse I have fixed Connie's parents' names. Via Ian -- [Priyanka](https://twitter.com/ianjq/status/642847138699853826) and [Doug](https://twitter.com/ianjq/status/643188653796143104).

Connie's mother stared at the phone until the dialtone stopped and the phone began to beep. She bit her lip.

The woman's deadpan delivery made it pretty obvious that Steven's mother was only joking, but Dr. Maheswaran was not amused. She'd just wanted to make sure that Connie and Steven were safe and supervised, and that Connie would be home for dinner.

She walked to the door and opened it, calling her husband's name. He looked up from the rosebush he was planting.

"Yes, dear?" he asked, brow furrowed.

"Have you ever met this Steven Universe's parents?" she asked.

Doug shook his head. "Connie's little friend?"

"That's the one," she said. "I just spoke to his mother on the phone and she was pretty rude."

"Really?" Doug said in surprise. He got up, pulled his gardening gloves off, and followed Priyanka into the house.

"What do we know about his family?" Doug asked. "Universe, that's an unusual name. Almost sounds fake."

"Not much," Priyanka admitted. "I was so pleased that Connie had finally made a friend that I didn't ask too many questions. Maybe I should have. She hung up on me."

Doug scrubbed his hands furiously. "Call her back. I don't think she needs to stay there any longer, not until we've seen what kind of people they are."

"She's going to be upset," Priyanka said, but she sighed. "You're right. She's been spending too much time over there anyway. I can sign her up for extra violin lessons."

"Good idea," Doug said, and Priyanka dialed the number again from memory.


	67. Fusion Cuisine 2

They hadn't tried being Alexandrite in a long time. They'd worked together for centuries, but she had never come easily to them -- they all wanted different things, even in the heat of battle. The Homeworld army had seen Alexandrite as monstrous and terrifying, everything they'd dreamed about fusions and worse. Garnet hated seeing that in their faces.

The idea of becoming her for the sake of a dinner party was beyond ridiculous. Steven would just have to choose one of them.

Personally, Garnet voted for herself, but she understood that Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran might not be too pleased to meet her, after her little joke about swordfighting. She understood that some humans found her general silence disconcerting, but it meant that she wouldn't slip up and reveal Steven's unusual parentage, which Amethyst might do offhand, or Pearl in her excitement over some topic.

She wished that Steven didn't think it was necessary to conceal his true self with strangers. The people of Beach City were used to the Crystal Gems and their strange ways -- they accepted Steven for who he was. But she understood what it was like to feel like an outcast. She didn't want that for Steven, not ever. He had a difficult enough life ahead of him as it was.

"We have no choice," Garnet said, because Alexandrite was looming in her future vision, and because she wanted to do this for him. She wanted Connie's parents to meet Steven's parents, even if it had to be in this unorthodox way. She wanted Steven to be happy.

"Let's go outside," she said, not waiting for the others to follow her. She knew they would, even with Pearl protesting all the way. Amethyst ran circles around them in excitement.

It took them twenty minutes to get the dance right, but finally they did, and Alexandrite woke to a new challenge. She was pretty sure she failed at it, at least until she could prevent Steven and Connie from running away. Finally, something she could attack!

Not that the bus resisted, but she felt a lot better once she'd stopped it. Parenting would be a lot harder if she didn't have six arms.


	68. Garnet's Universe 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 adventures Garnet might have had during Garnet's Universe.

**1.**

That morning, Garnet had walked into the forest, and she hadn't stopped walking. There wasn't a closer warp pad, but walking was no strain on her body construct. She could walk for days if need be, but ever since Steven had been born, she rarely left the temple for more than a few hours at a time.

Hours, numberless miles later, she arrived at a lake. She didn't slow down. The mud of the bottom sucked at her feet, but didn't slow her. When she reached the center, she began to dig.

She didn't have to dig very far before the Gem beast emerged from the lake silt. It was a Ruby, another small one. More accurately, it had been a Ruby. Now it was something else, and she had to take care of it before it made its way deep into the earth, or through the streams to the sea. She made quick work of the beast, even though its gem was barely damaged, and bubbled it. She didn't like touching them with her hands, especially gemstones that were like hers. No one was quite sure what kind of damage caused corruption, and she wasn't going to find out if she could help it.

She should send the bubble back to the temple, but now that it was contained, she didn't feel the same urgency. It was a long walk back to the warp pad. She brought the gem with her, hovering in the bubble over her hand, walking out of the lake and into the forest, out of the forest and onto the warp pad.

In her silence, thoughts whirled through her. The bubble was a gentle electric buzz against her palm. She was glad she'd done this one alone. She was never alone, not really, but she was glad she'd chosen not to take Pearl and Amethyst. She hadn't seen them in her gem-seeking vision, and their constant argument would have ruined the peace of the day. Although perhaps it could have helped Garnet out of her stuporous thoughts.

That could have been her Ruby. She could have left Sapphire alone. But she wouldn't have. It could have been a twinned fish monster that Amethyst and Pearl would have had to bubble, separating out the gems. That would have been the worst -- to be alone again, and hurting.

Not yet. The war wasn't quite over yet. Garnet was still fighting.

When she warped back to the temple and saw Steven's shining face, she knew she'd never quit, not until they all were safe.

"You tell me," she told the inquisitive child, and his cheerful voice blew all her doldrums away.

 

**2.**

"I am a rich and mysterious woman from far away, come to buy this gemstone before it is melted out of the block of ice it was discovered within," Garnet said in her usual monotone.

The man behind the desk smirked. "Do you think you could ask a little more sweetly, sugar? I've got lots of potential buyers for the stone, but I have a hard time resisting a woman with a beautiful voice."

"No," Garnet said. The man was silent in confusion for a moment, and then he laughed. 

"You'd better have a good offer then, because the price is just going up," he said. 

Garnet summoned a gauntlet and used it to punch a hole in the wall. While he was gaping, she picked up the small refrigerator on his desk and tucked it under her arm. She walked out her self-made exit. 

She could hear the man screaming for his guards, behind her, but she didn't much care. She could feel the gem in the ice beginning to wake up, and she had to be long gone before it did. 

 

**3.**

Garnet was cleaning the bathroom when she felt the tingling vibration of a corrupted gem reverberating in her palms. She put down the toilet brush carefully and rushed out onto the beach. Amethyst and Pearl weren't here -- she'd sent them to check the warp pads again, because one couldn't be too careful. Normally she liked to go along, but she'd decided to stay back and take care of Steven. He'd be home from visiting Greg in an hour or so. In the meantime, there were chores she could do. She knew that Pearl didn't mind it when she or Amethyst neglected their duties, but she liked to contribute when she could.

The beast burrowed into the sand and she dug deeply after it. It was clearly more scared than violent, but that wouldn't last. They always got worse. She punched down hard and the beast disappeared in a puff of air and sand, leaving the gemstone behind. She bubbled it quickly, got up, and shook the excess sand from her body.

The washer buzzed. The sound carried well in the wind blowing from that direction. She went inside and used the warp pad to reach the laundry hand. She brought the bubbled gem with her out of habit. It didn't seem worth the energy to transport it into the burning room when she could just use the temple door, so she opened the washing machine and moved clothing from the washer to the dryer, shaking out Steven's bedsheets and rescuing a couple shirts that had gotten tangled. She set the bubble on top of the washer while she was working.

She was nearly done when she heard the front door open. Steven was back -- Amethyst and Pearl would have used the warp pad. She turned the dryer on and took the warp pad back into the main house.

Steven giggled; Garnet smiled.

This was a good time for a break.


	69. Watermelon Steven 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So why exactly were the Gems sitting around and reading newspapers? Gen.

They read the newspaper every Thursday, after conducting a careful poll with Greg and the staff at the Big Donut.

"Nothing interesting ever happens on a Thursday," Greg told them, and when pressed on the question, the employees of Steven's favorite business agreed. The short one had considered carefully. The taller one had rolled his eyes, which must meant that their conclusions were obvious.

"When little else is occurring, anything unusual will stand out," Garnet said. "I can't see everything with my future vision. We need to watch for unusual Gem activity, especially the kind that humans might notice."

They hadn't done this when Rose was around. Of course, the mass communication skills of humans had been quite limited for most of their history. Now that there was this opportunity, they would take it.

But they didn't read the Internet. They'd learned the hard way about how unhelpful that could be.

("You mean people just make this stuff up to trick people? For no reason?" Amethyst asked. Greg glanced toward the still-smoking corpse of his laptop and did his best to explain the difference between official news sites and very unofficial image boards, but nothing he did would bring his computer back to life. They stuck to newspapers after that.)


	70. Watermelon Steven 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The watermelons know what Steven knows, not what Steven feels.

The watermelons knew what Steven knew. They chose to ignore most of it as irrelevant, but they understood. A burial required flowers. Afterwards, they would bow their heads over the site. Steven had been to his grandfather's funeral, and that was what they had done.

They knew that Pearl was inefficient without her spear, and that Garnet was unstoppable. They would do their best to resolve the issues.

They knew what Steven knew, but most of them didn't understand what he felt. They were plants, without emotions or ties. They walked off into the water to think about concepts they weren't ready to understand yet.

They would eventually. Rose's plants lived to fight, as Garnet said, but also, they had loved her, which was why they protected her whenever they could. Rose always commanded such loyalty from her followers, mostly without asking for it. 

The watermelons would probably never understand compassion, but they would return anyway, when he needed them.


	71. Lion 3: Straight to Video 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadie gen. Sadie wishes her mom wasn't so clingy, but hey, at least she has one.

Sadie knew her mom tried really hard, and she appreciated it, she really did. She worked really hard to provide for Sadie and herself after the divorce, and Sadie knew she felt guilty when she couldn't be there for Sadie all the time. But really, it was okay. Sadie could be resourceful and she could take care of herself, especially now that she was an adult. It had been sweet, the first time her mother dropped off a packed lunch along with the Big Donut's mail, but it was just getting to be embarrassing now.

"But what are you going to eat?" her mother asked, as if Sadie had no cooking skills whatsoever. Sadie had to roll her eyes. She'd eat what she usually ate, which was a donut that wasn't pretty enough to share with the customers, or she'd walk over to Fish Stew Pizza and buy a slice. Perfectly capable.

"I'll be fine," she said, and her mother bit her lip, but nodded. She seemed to notice, for the first time, the refrigerated cases containing paper bags with Sadie's name on them. Sadie felt a spike of guilt at her mother's expression, but she tried to push it away. This was just the first in a long series of steps they needed to go through for her mother to understand that she was an independent adult.

The next day, she was surprised to see Steven so early in the morning. When he leaned up and whispered to her, "I found a video from my mom, can we watch it here?" she hurried with the door.

Sadie had never met Rose Quartz, although she'd seen her a few times before Steven was born. She'd just been a kid then, and her impression was that Rose was the largest woman ever -- mountains of pink hair and white, fluffy dress. She had a pretty laugh, Sadie remembered that.

They sat in silence watching the video. It was like a time capsule back to a world neither of them had known. It wasn't even her parents but Sadie found herself sniffling a little anyway. They seemed so happy, even though Rose was sure that she wouldn't be around to raise Steven. Sadie wasn't sure how she would know, or why that would be the case. She didn't really know very much about the Gems and their biology, and Steven seemed to be an exception to the rule, in any case.

In any case, Rose wasn't here now. And although Sadie was sure that the others like her, and Steven's dad, were doing the best they could, there was no substitute for a mom.

She wanted to talk to hers, now before she left for work. She dialed the number from memory, but wasn't sure what to say.

"Hey, Mom?" she said, listening to her mother's voice, and she realized that it didn't matter what she said, because her mom would understand.


	72. Lion 3: Straight to Video 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on his Lapis art from the Message, I think it's fair to say that Greg is also good at art. So I thought, what if he made Rose's portrait? Rose/Greg.

"You have to quit laughing!" Greg said, although he was snickering too. Rose rewarded him with one of her dazzling smiles.

"Does that make it harder to paint, Mr. Universe?" she asked him, folding her hands in her lap. There was a mischievous look in her eye, and he doubted he'd get much done today. He didn't really mind; he knew there'd be no way to really capture her on canvas, but he wanted to try anyway.

"Call me Greg," he said. "And sit still!"

"You have to stop being so funny," she said. "That's the solution to your problem."

Greg dipped the brush in the pink paint, and traced the shape of a curl. He did a second one, humming under his breath, but he put the brush down when Rose began to sing.


	73. Lion 3: Straight to Video 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose gen with Rose/Greg. Rose decides what she should leave for Steven so he might understand her.

Rose thought a long time about what she should put into the pocket dimension she'd made for Steven. They couldn't be things that anyone would need in her absence, before Steven figured out how to access the place. But that wasn't so difficult as trying to figure out what to give him of _her_. What would he understand? What should she share? She was sure that Greg would tell him plenty of stories about his mother, but what else would Steven need?

She grew the grass, which murmured quietly in the constant wind, and she coaxed the tree as well. She didn't have the time to grow it the way she wanted to -- what a strange idea, she still wasn't sure she had it fixed in her head yet -- so she gave it just enough encouragement to grow up into a knobbly, adolescent tree that could stand firmly in the acidic soil. It bloomed for her, wanting her to smile.

The first thing she chose was the shirt. She hadn't worn it in a long time, wanting to preserve it as a symbol of their beginning. Even so, the print was beginning to crack a little. She hung it carefully on a friendly branch and let it blow in the wind. She wondered if Greg would recognize it when Steven found it. She hoped it made him grin.

In the same vein, the photograph was necessary. Greg had hundreds of photos of them; humanity liked to preserve moments, knowing they wouldn't come around again. But that one was one of her favorites.

Next, she added Bismuth. It didn't seem right to leave her in the burning room with the others. It was silly, perhaps, to think that Bismuth might like the wind against her bubble, but then again, she might. Rose wasn't sure how much awareness the Gems had in their bubbles, but it was better than destroying them. Steven, perhaps, would have the key to freeing her.

She brought the flag as well. That was a difficult decision and she very nearly added it to the mess in Amethyst's room instead -- Amethyst would have liked to have it, she thought, but she didn't want Pearl to find it. The war was over, but not in Pearl's head. And perhaps not for good. Maybe they would need her standard again, but she'd be just as glad if it crumbled to dust here, forgotten.

The treasure chest had been a gift from friendly sailors, and although Rose had appreciated the gesture, she had little need for the coins inside. Perhaps Steven would -- humans found money valuable. If nothing else, perhaps he would enjoy the shine. The men had been so grateful when the Gems pulled them out of the water, and wouldn't hear of them going back empty-handed. She hoped Garnet would tell him the story someday, she did such a good impression of their captain.

The videotape was the last addition, only a few weeks before the birth. Greg was always fiddling with that little camcorder, even though he rarely recorded music videos anymore. There was plenty of little films he'd created of Rose and the Crystal Gems and anything else that caught his fancy, but she'd taken the camera from him that day and he hadn't protested.

"You should introduce yourself," she said, focusing the camera on Greg's face.

"By the time he watches this, he'll know who I am!" Greg protested, but he never could resist the spotlight. They'd had a wonderful time. It had been her favorite date, right up until she decided it was time to explain what had to happen when she gave birth.

It had been a good day, anyway.

She thought about adding other possessions, but these seemed like the best choices. Anything she might have chosen to add as a reminder of the Gems or of her old life wouldn't mean anything to him. She was glad, really. He'd grow up knowing the Gems and wouldn't need reminders of them. Maybe they really could leave Homeworld behind. She was trying.

She closed the loop and keyed it to her gem, and went outside to put her toes into the sand. There were other things she needed to do, and soon, but Steven was kicking and she wanted to lay out on the beach and enjoy the way he pressed his tiny foot into her hand.


	74. Warp Tour 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh, Steven, you're supposed to sneeze into your antecubital fossa." Pearl gen. This chapter has a corpse in it, but he was already dead when we showed up.

Five thousand years was a long time to be stuck on one planet, and there was a time when the Crystal Gems traveled regularly, only returning to the Temple once a decade or so. Traveling the human way was very slow, but they had time.

Rose wanted to learn about the plants of this world, which varied considerably from region to region. They were everywhere except the poles, so that left plenty of room for travel. Pearl thought that mostly all the traveling was a waste of time, but what else did they have to do, really? She skirted around the edges of society nervously with Rose, playing the servant or the companion or the younger sibling as necessary. They never stayed anywhere for too long -- their alien natures always betrayed them, and humans were quick to judge. Some were quicker to hurt.

It was inevitable that they all found a way to occupy themselves. Pearl trained until her body strained against her, until Rose took her hands and kissed away her calluses. The war was over, Rose said. Pearl should rest. Pearl should find something of her own to do.

Pearl was a little upset at first -- she did her best, even if she wasn't built for combat -- but she eventually understood what Rose meant. Garnet was deep into philosophers this era; she'd sit and listen to them, unblinking, until they ran out of words. Amethyst's perpetual passion was food, and even though they rarely stayed in city for more than a couple years, she always managed to sample every restaurant, even if she eventually had to shapeshift to get in.

Pearl put on men's clothing and went down to the college to see what humans were learning. To her horror, they were cutting apart a person, a man with a blood-splattered tunic in the lead, pointing at the sharp contrast of white bone against red muscle and talking about the way the joints connected. She thought at first it was some kind of horrible punishment, but no one seemed happy about it. They were crowding around to look at the bones in the poor man's arm. It was probably best that he was dead.

Humans were stuffed with all kinds of terrifying pieces. They had blood and bones and endocrine systems and so many strange organs that weren't even useful to them anymore. It was nowhere near as elegant as Gem anatomy. Each piece was named, and Pearl learned them: radius, ulna, deltoid, triceps, antecubital fossa...

Pearl drew each part in careful strokes, spreading sand to cure the ink. The Crystal Gems moved on before the instructor finished explaining the ribs, but Pearl didn't mind too much. The cadaver was really starting to smell.


	75. Warp Tour 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst and Greg gen. Greg is the reason Amethyst likes scary stories.

The first night Greg stayed in Beach City, he made a fire on the beach. He chose what felt like a safe distance from the temple, crossing back over the fence in a gesture of respect, and drove the van down to a few feet above the waterline, where someone had already established a fire pit. It was a nice night and he'd just given up his music career for a beautiful woman who might not actually be human. He wasn't sure if he should be celebrating or jumping back in his van and speeding down the road, calling out for Marty.

No, he was sure. He wasn't sure that this relationship would work out, or even last for more than a day, but he'd been miserable with Marty as his manager, and he was really beginning to think that the agent percentage was more than a little predatory. So far he'd earned only a couple hundred dollars, and Marty had been reluctant to give him any money at all, swearing that he was still attempting to recoup what he'd put into Greg.

Greg still wanted to be a rock star, but there were a lot of ways to get there, especially with his talent. He'd been thinking it was time to settle down a bit and start working on his next record. Why not here? At least here he could keep whatever pittance he earned.

And she was here. That was also really important. Greg walked down the beach until he had enough driftwood for the evening, and dug around in the van until he found Marty's lighter. Marty was always trying to quit smoking, but usually his attempts never lasted more than a couple of hours. He always had a lighter on him. The fire caught quickly in the dry air and before long, he was enjoying the light and warmth.

A bird hooted. Greg started, but the small purple girl didn't hurtle out of the darkness toward him, so perhaps it was a real owl.

And then something latched onto him from behind, and he choked out a high scream. She laughed.

"Geez, you're easy to tease!" she complained, unfolding her limbs from around Greg and allowing him to struggle to his feet in terror. She came around to the other side of the fire and sat down comfortably.

"We thought you ran away. I went to check," she said.

"I didn't run away!" Greg said indignantly. "Rose said she had something to do, so I left. I'm not going to be a creep."

"Good plan," she said, digging around in her ear without a hint of shame. "Pearl already doesn't like you."

"Which one--"

"Pearl," she repeated, pointing to her forehead, and then he understood. "What's your name?" he asked her.

"Amethyst," she said, pointing to the enormous gemstone in her chest. "...Duh."

"I'm Greg," he said. The fire crackled.

"Humans have such weird names," she said, snorting in amusement. "What are you doing, Greg?"

"Camping," Greg answered. "You can't camp without a proper fire!"

He was beginning to regain his confidence, and he sat down again and fed the fire another branch. Amethyst was weird, but mostly curious. She didn't seem dangerous.

"What do you use it for?" Amethyst asked.

Greg laughed. "Nothing, really. Decoration? Distinctive lighting? It's also great for telling scary stories around."

"Tell me a story!" she demanded, and he did, for hours until his voice grew hoarse and the sky began to lighten. She was entertained by every tale, and hadn't heard any of them, even the most common ones. She didn't seem scared by them, though, and often laughed at the climax, but he didn't mind. It wasn't like he'd written them himself or anything.

The fire burned down to embers and he finally decided to turn in. He had a sleeping bag in the van that was calling his name.

"See you tomorrow," Amethyst said, waving before she scampered off, and Greg waved back before climbing into the van.


	76. Warp Tour 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot gen. Peridot did not want to go on this mission to Earth.
> 
> (This was written way previous to last week's episode.)

Peridot hated leaving Homeworld. They never had the right tech on other planets, the environment was too variable, and she never felt quite safe. She didn't have any method of defending herself against the filthy residents of these planets that often invaded the kindergartens that she worked in. So far she'd only been forced to travel three memorable times, but that was three more than she was comfortable. When she got the Earth assignment, she stomped around her apartment for two cycles, grumbling, and then she prepped her things and went.

She didn't realize until she started reading through the dossiers that there was something strange about this assignment. She'd had the same education as everyone else, but while some Gems paid more attention to the history, she'd preferred to think of it as something that wouldn't come up again.

This assignment was different. This was a planet they'd… not lost, because the Diamond Authority never lost a planet. They'd abandoned this one because the argument wasn't worth the time, not when there were dozens of other galaxies out there.

Peridot understood how to read the spin. She was a tech -- she's read and written plenty of technical documentation. Earth was _dangerous_. She was headed there for one of two reasons. Either she'd done her job well enough that someone noticed and thought that she could handle it, or she'd done poorly enough that she'd ticked someone off and they thought this would be an easy way to get rid of her. Or there was a third alternative: blind luck. Considering all of the possibilities, she'd vote for the third. It didn't make her any happier.

She'd fix the broken warp pad and she'd check on the kindergarten, and then she'd get out of there. She didn't want to get mixed up with anything on Earth.


	77. Warp Tour 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Garnet making cookies for Steven in Warp Tour. Based on this [tumblr post](http://karkatium.tumblr.com/post/127006657335/so-i-never-noticed-that-in-warp-tour-it-was/mobile). Hints of Pearl/Garnet.

Steven slept a lot. Pearl often used the time he was resting to do chores, clean up Steven's room, or simply to relax. Once in a while, she used the time to bake.

She didn't like to eat. Shapeshifting a digestive system seemed so vulgar, and she didn't like the way it felt. Tasting was nice enough, but not to do the rest of the work. And chewing was terrible.

Still, she liked to bake. There was something satisfying about combining ingredients in a specific way, applying heat, and making them into something else. It was like playing music with a band -- the sugar rounded out the flour in the same way Garnet's keytar could add depth to her violin sound.

Baking was one of the activities she usually performed alone. Amethyst wasn't allowed to be in Steven's room or she'd eat all of the food before it was done, and sometimes the pots and pans as well. Garnet never seemed interested, and Pearl didn't push. She wasn't really interested in any human activities beyond Steven's.

Steven was sleeping, curled into a ball by the door where, Pearl supposed, he could feel the sea breeze on his skin. Pearl was pouring out baking flour, measuring it carefully on her scale, when the temple door opened and Garnet stepped out. For a moment, Pearl could see the burning room behind Garnet before the door shut. Garnet was having trouble settling in this evening too, then. She often paced the burning room at night in silence. Pearl never asked her what she was seeing. She was too afraid.

"What do you need next?" Garnet said, and Pearl started. She hadn't expected Garnet to come into the kitchen -- she had figured she was just checking in on Steven. But there she was, resting her hand on top of the fridge and looking at Pearl.

"The eggs?" Pearl said, as if she hadn't made this recipe enough times to have it memorized in perfect order. Garnet ducked her head into the fridge and retrieved the box of eggs, and then turned to Pearl, waiting.

"Garnet?" Pearl said uncertainly. "What are you doing?"

"If you don't want help I can find something else to do," Garnet said, and her usual monotone was almost sulky. Pearl reached out and grabbed Garnet's arm. Then she plucked two eggs out of the box carefully and broke them into her mixture.

"Why don't you get out the vanilla and the salt?" Pearl asked, stirring, and then Garnet was beside her, measuring out the tiny amounts requested. It was really nice, comfortable even. Like making music with a partner. Garnet followed her lead, but also warned her that the oven was hotter than it should have been, saving the first batch.

Pearl started humming.


	78. Alone Together 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst gen. The direct aftermath of meeting Stevonnie.

Garnet sent Stevonnie out the door with a benediction and after that, they all stood there and looked at each other.

"A human," Pearl said.

"Who'da thunk," Amethyst said, shaking her head.

"I told you," Garnet said, quietly confident. "He's a Crystal Gem."

"But she's human!" Pearl said, almost pleading. "Greg couldn't do it! I know they tried more than once!"

"Pearl, this is what we wanted," Garnet said. "We want him to be able to fuse, it's an important Crystal Gem technique."

Pearl frowned. She didn't say, 'He should have fused with me first,' but the thought hung in the air anyway, between three beings who knew each other as well as they did. It wasn't a selfish thought; they'd often discussed the possibility amongst themselves. Pearl and Rose Quartz had been the first to be successful fusion partners in their small group (except of course Garnet), and Pearl was primarily his teacher in this arena. She thought it might be easier for him to dance with Amethyst because of their similar size, but she expected to be the first one to be his fusion partner. That would be a good thing -- her fusions were usually grounded and patient, and although Garnet had more fusion experience, the fact that she was a fusion herself would mean that he'd be very confused, at least until they introduced him to Ruby and Sapphire.

"But they're alone out there together," Pearl said. "We should have gone with them."

Garnet smiled a little private smile. "Let them have their alone time. They'll figure it out. And if they have any trouble, they'll unfuse -- they're not a stable fusion yet."

"Right," Pearl said. "Yet."

They were all silent for a moment.

"I hope I fuse with him next," Amethyst said. "Stevonnie has great hair. I want some of that."

"It's true," Garnet agreed. Pearl sighed.


	79. Alone Together 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stevonnie gen. Stevonnie explores their new abilities.

Once Stevonnie found their feet and left Steven's house, they felt the need to run through the sand, so they did. They liked the feel of the sand between their toes, and found themselves bubbling up with laughter and affection as they ran. They liked being themselves. They ran so much faster now, jumped into a cartwheel, and then they considered the cliffside.

Steven saw people jump off it all the time during the summer, screaming and laughing all the way down. Pearl had warned him against it a dozen times, worried about the rocks at the bottom. It was a chance Connie would never have taken herself.

But Stevonnie thought they could do it. They wanted to feel the hard plunge into the water like a pleasant smack. They wanted to have experiences, as well as be one.

"Let's do it!" Stevonnie said, and for a moment, they flew.


	80. Alone Together 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stevonnie gen with hints of Steven/Connie. Kevin is a jerk, and Steven and Connie miss each other.

Stevonnie didn't know how to feel about Kevin. Steven's natural instinct was to get to know new people, but Connie was more reserved and uncertain about strangers. The part of them that was Connie didn't like the look in Kevin's eyes, and Stevonnie didn't like the things that he was saying about them and the other people at the rave. He wanted something that Stevonnie didn't want to give. And he was so persistent that he was really making them uncomfortable.

If they were just kids still, Kevin wouldn't be paying attention to them. Kevin wanted them to pay attention to him because he thought they were like him. Stevonnie found that a bit insulting. They should all be able to dance together, as friends. They didn't want anything more than that. They were just a kid.

They felt more alone with Kevin than they did when they were by themselves. This dance wasn't much fun anymore. They'd lost their carefree feeling. They were too aware of everything they were doing. They'd lost their jam.

If Steven was there, he'd smile at Connie and she wouldn't be so nervous. If Connie was here, Steven would feel like he wasn't alone. And both Steven and Connie were here, but it just wasn't the same.

When Stevonnie unfused, Kevin went away, and Steven and Connie didn't talk about him on their way back to Steven's house. They walked close together in the dark, occasionally bumping shoulders and talking about all they'd done today as Stevonnie. Connie was glad that her parents had allowed her to stay over with Steven that night; she definitely didn't want to explain to them why she'd been out so late.

When they bedded down that night, Steven in his bed and Connie on the couch, Steven looked over the edge of the loft and smiled down at her.

"I had fun dancing with you today," he said. "Good night."

"Me too," Connie said, smiling back.


	81. Alone Together 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal Gems gen. After Steven fuses the first time, dance practices intensify.

After Steven started joining the Crystal Gems on regular missions, Pearl scheduled in dance practice for Thursday afternoons. Steven hadn't understood why until he met Opal. He'd thought it worked pretty well as a team-building exercise, though.

But after Steven successfully fused with Connie, Pearl sat him down and had him describe the experience in great detail. Their dance hadn't been anything like the ones he'd practiced before. Dance practice intensified. He tried a variety of styles and dancing with each of the Gems, but so far, nothing had worked.

"First position, second..." Pearl said, guiding his arm positions, and Steven did his best to mimic her grace. Garnet's arm movements were more fun, but too complicated. And his hips just didn't move the same way Amethyst's did, although he kept trying. Anyway, each Gem had their own style that they meshed together -- maybe it wasn't working because he wasn't using his own. But he didn't know his favorite way to dance yet.

Steven sighed in frustration. He thought this would be easier after he'd already done it once, but a few secret experiments with Connie hadn't been successful either. He flopped down onto the floor again.

"Stop trying so hard," Amethyst said, offering him a hand. "Let's do the Chicken Dance again!"

"That's not going to work!" Pearl protested, but not too hard. Steven grinned as he made birds sounds at Amethyst and funny faces. Amethyst made them back.

Practice time was about over, anyway. What was the harm, as long as he learned to love the dance?


	82. The Test 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crystal Gems talk while building Steven's dungeon.

Steven's pleading wore them down, and the Gems had a meeting in Pearl's room to talk about the test. Amethyst was bubbling over with ideas for her dungeon.

"I'll share them with you," she said generously. "But the Indiana Jones parody is all mine."

"Aww," Garnet said, disappointed.

"We have to do this right," Pearl said. "Do your parodies if you want, but the important part is that Steven _must_ succeed. He needs this."

"Because you gave him cold feet," Amethyst said, and Garnet's hand fastened on Amethyst's shoulder. She became quiet.

"He needs this," Garnet said. "We need this. We are stronger with Steven on our team, and he needs to understand that."

"Of course, there's no need for him to be in real danger," Pearl continued. "Make it convincing, but safe."

"Won't he get mad if he finds out we're nerfing it?" Amethyst asked, picking her nose.

"He doesn't need to find out, not if we all do our jobs right," Pearl said. "Now, I was thinking of doing a musical theme…"

"Yeah, yeah, don't steal all the good ideas," Amethyst said, wiggling her fingers. "Let's do this!"

Garnet cracked all her knuckles. Slowly, the water began to cascade out of Pearl's room, sliding into the walls and up into the ceiling, and the Gems began to build.


	83. The Test 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the test, Steven thinks about the future. Steven gen.

After the Gems hugged Steven and Pearl handed him a balloon, they had ice cream. Well, he and Amethyst did. Steven laughed and joked with them, and it wasn't long before the anger he had felt over the fake test subsided. He couldn't hold a grudge.

That night he took the Moon Goddess Statue to bed with him. It wasn't soft like his usual toys, instead a heavy, rough weight against his shoulder. He left a fingerprint on the pale stone and thought about the Sea Spire. Connie talked about tests at school all the time -- sometimes she couldn't come over because she was studying. He knew that the Gems were trying to teach him how to be one of them, but somehow he hadn't thought there would be real tests. They were always so encouraging whenever he did something right, and they never stayed mad when he made mistakes, because he was learning.

He just wanted to be worthy of them. He wanted to make them happy more than anything in the world. He knew he wasn't as good as his mom yet, and that it would take time, but he wanted it to happen now. He had his shield, sometimes, but whenever he got a cut he'd lick it and it didn't go away. They needed his healing spit -- what if Lapis came back and she was hurt again? Or Amethyst fell off another cliff?

Steven traced the face of the Moon Goddess and wondered who she'd been. Or was this just a statue that someone put a Gem into? Was she hiding in her gem? Would she ever come out now that her home was gone?

He was going to find out someday. He was going to work even harder to be a Crystal Gem. Next time he wouldn't fail the test at all, even if it was fake. He'd catch up with them if he ran as fast as he could.

He was glad they'd slow down a little and let him catch up.


	84. Future Vision 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There was a chance you'd understand this, and we'd be closer." Steven and Garnet gen

"Tell me something good that might happen," Steven said. "Not the bad things, the good ones!"

He reached out for her hand and she held it as they walked down the boardwalk. Steven had crumbs on his shirt from the donut.

Garnet saw drownings and chokings and comically large hornets. She said, "If you share your extra donut with that seagull, you might make a friend."

The workers at the Big Donut had insisted on giving them both a free donut to make up for the coffee. Steven had eaten his, but Garnet didn't intend to eat hers. And if he ate it, he wouldn't be hungry for lunch.

"A friend!" Steven said, eyes sparkling. He let her go, running ahead with enthusiasm onto the sand, and the seagull ran away. Carefully he tore the donut into pieces and threw it down. Two other seagulls immediately began to fight over all the pieces. Steven laughed.

"Two friends!" he said. "What else do you see?"

Garnet considered, her hand still warm from Steven's small grip. "You might find some pretty shells down by the water," she said.

"I love Future Vision!" he shouted, running down into the surf, and Garnet followed.

"Try behind that rock," she suggested, the ocean lapping at her feet, and for a while, she only looked after his happiness.


	85. Future Vision 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I noticed that there are several photos of the Gems in Steven's house, and that made me wonder who was taking the photos. Crystal Gems gen.

"Come on, guys, you have to smile!" Steven insisted, and Pearl bared her teeth awkwardly, nudging Amethyst. Amethyst turned into a goat.

"Baa!" she said, nibbling at Pearl's sash, and Pearl swatted at her.

"How's this?" Garnet asked, her expression completely unchanging.

"Come on, guys, just one nice picture!" Steven pleaded. He had dozens of terrible pictures, and a couple of sweet ones, where he'd caught the Gems off guard, but not one good posed photo. His dad had given him the camera for his birthday, and recently he decided that he needed to have photographic evidence of all the important people in his life. As soon as Connie came back to Beach City, he was going to take one of her too. Then when he got the pictures printed, he'd always remember what everyone looked like right now, no matter what. It was like looking at old photos of his dad -- he couldn't remember it when his dad had hair all the way up to the top of his head, but when his dad looked at the pictures, Steven could tell he still saw that version of himself in his mind.

Steven wasn't worried about anyone going away, but learning about Garnet's future vision had changed him a little. He'd never thought too hard about getting hurt, but it could happen. Apparently, it could happen a lot. And Pearl had gone back into her gem when the Holo-Pearl hurt her -- she came back, but--

"Get your camera ready," Garnet said, and Steven lifted it to his eye. Garnet poked Amethyst under her goaty underarm and she turned back into herself to laugh. And then Garnet put her arm around Pearl's shoulder, and Pearl gave a genuine smile. Steven clicked the shutter.

"Perfect," he said, grinning, and Pearl reached out towards him.

"I'll take one of you three," she offered, and that one was pretty good too, even though Amethyst gave him bunny ears.


	86. On the Run 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose shows the kindergarten to Greg. Greg/Rose.

"Tell me about where you came from," Greg said. Rose didn't answer for such a long time that he leaned up on his elbow to see if she was awake. She didn't sleep much, but she was always telling him how he helped her relax. Her eyes were open and her expression was troubled.

"Rose?" he said. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. He liked these nights out here on the beach with her, laying down on towels and looking up at the stars and talking. He thought they'd never run out of things to talk about, but he realized that Rose only liked to talk about the near past, and only occasionally shared stories about her life before Beach City, even more rarely from her own world. She'd told him certain abstract things about being a Gem, but not how she'd come to Earth or why she was still here. He'd heard garbled stories from Amethyst about a war that had occurred thousands of years ago, but Garnet and Pearl were similarly tight-lipped.

"You don't want to know, Greg," Rose said. "How did your job hunt go today?"

He didn't take the bait. "I do want to know! I want to know everything about you."

Rose sighed and sat up. "Come with me," she said.

Greg loved going on adventures with her. She didn't take him on missions with her because it was too dangerous, so that meant that they spent most of their time together in Beach City. She led him up onto the warp pad and grabbed him in a bear hug. He didn't understand why until the warp pad activated and he found himself in a riot of color and sound, no ground beneath his feet. It was dizzying.

When it stopped, Greg opened his eyes and saw a canyon stretching around him, with weird rock formations as far as he could see. It was very dark, even after he rummaged around in his pockets and found a lighter (any good rock god had a lighter in case he needed to hold it up and commune with his fans). Rose's bare feet were sure.

"We did this," Rose said, and when he said, "What?" she grabbed his hand and pushed it against the edge of a hole. Then she pulled him a little further and he saw another hole, and another, for as far as he could see. It was quiet and eerie in this place, and broken machines littered the place like terrifying sculptures. Nothing here was alive.

"There might have been people here, or animals, or trees once," Rose said, "but we did this. The Gems. We did this all over Earth. And all over other planets. Gems do not reproduce like humans do. They're extracted from the ground, and when they are, nothing will grow there again. Ever."

Greg felt a chill go up his spine. Rose must have felt his shiver; her hand tightened in his.

"This is unbelievable," he said.

"We have to come back sometimes and make sure no one has reactivated these," Rose told him. "One time, we found Amethyst. She'd been in there too long, abandoned as defective. But there were hundreds, thousands of Gems who grew here to fight Homeworld's wars. To destroy a million Earths. None of us are blameless except for her."

"Rose," Greg began, but he didn't know what else to say. Finally, he said, "Can we go back?"

Rose lifted her head, shut her eyes, and listened to the wind whistling through the rocks. "Yes. No one is here. We can mark that off the list for this decade."

He held her hand tightly as she helped him back up onto the warp pad, and his thoughts were as chaotic as their trip back. Sometimes, when they were getting along, Greg could almost forget that she wasn't human. Other times, he couldn't believe it for a second.

"I have to go," he said as soon as they stepped out of the temple. She dropped their clasped hands immediately, turning away so that he could only see her hair instead of her face.

"I, uh," he said, and then swallowed. "I got hired to help Eric with Beach City News. I'm going to deliver his papers at night. I have to go or I'll be late."

"Good luck!" Rose said, sweeping him up into a sudden embrace, her relief palpable. "Oh, I'm so proud of you! See you tomorrow!"

"See you," he said, trying to maintain the same enthusiasm. He had a lot to think about as he drove through the quiet night.


	87. On the Run 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst gen. Amethyst hasn't run away for a while.

It had been a while since Amethyst had last run away. They'd all made a promise to each other after Rose's death -- they were all they had now, just the three of them and the promise of Steven. He wasn't as much fun as a baby and Greg was raising him, anyway. 

She could have left, then. She didn't think Pearl would remember to look for her, wrapped up in private grief. And she might not have been the most sensitive Gem but she knew Garnet was hurting too, on top of having to be the leader. She was distracted and wouldn't follow.

She hadn't. She stayed, watching hours of Li'l Butler with Greg, and seeing Steven grow up into a real person. 

She'd run away before a few times. Once when Pearl had snapped at her and she'd been sure Pearl didn't love her anymore, once after the Gems explained the kindergarten to Greg and he looked at her like she was a monster. But she hadn't left for a while. She'd been good ever since Steven was born, at least nearly, and she was tired of it. Even when she tried, it was never enough. As Steven mentioned it, she was ready -- it'd be so easy to disappear. 

Not really. She knew that Pearl and Garnet would look for Steven. He was innocent. 

She hadn't been back to the kindergarten in a long time. A few centuries at least. Rose never sent her to check up on the place; she understood Amethyst like that. 

Maybe she should have visited. Maybe the way she was thinking of it made it worse. After all, she'd lived there pretty happily until the others had found her. That was why she decided to show it to Steven.

She saw it in Steven's eyes, even as she found her enthusiasm to show him around. He hated it here-- it scared him. This was the place she was from, and he only wanted to get away. 

Well, Amethyst was sure that Pearl or Garnet would find them soon, and he could leave. He had already said he was tired of running away with her. He didn't understand the commitment running away meant. He wasn't cut out to be a No Home Boy. 

She thought she was pretty good at it. She had to have something.


	88. On the Run 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl considers the way Amethyst might feel about the kindergarten. Hints of Pearl/Amethyst.

Pearl didn't even realize that Amethyst and Steven were gone until Steven missed dinner. Even then, she figured at first that he'd eaten fry bits instead of an evening meal, but as the day went on and the sun went down, she began to worry. She didn't know where Garnet had gone and spent some time navigating the temple, looking for her.

The more she searched, the more she fretted. She popped out every once in a while to make sure the two of them hadn't returned, and the house stayed distressingly dark. She opened the temple door again with a sigh and saw Garnet staring into the fridge, the white light reflected brightly off her glasses.

"Garnet?" she said, surprised.

"Hmm," Garnet said, sounding dissatisfied, and she shut the door.

"Have you seen Steven and Amethyst?" Pearl asked.

Garnet adjusted her glasses and then stiffened. "They're at the kindergarten."

"What?" Pearl said, her voice high and loud in the silent room. "Why would they go to that terrible place?"

"I think you should go get them," Garnet said. "The warp pad is working."

"You're not coming?" Pearl asked. It wasn't that she really needed Garnet to come along, but she didn't understand why Amethyst had taken Steven out to the kindergarten, or why they hadn't come back. She bit her lip uncertainly.

"I have to go," Garnet said. "Mission. You can handle this."

She crossed the room to the warp pad and disappeared before Pearl came up with a response that didn't make her seem paranoid or cowardly. Pearl took the pad herself and as soon as she arrived, she fought back a shudder at the dark canyon walls stretching around her. She always felt like the holes were watching her.

She wanted Steven out of here as soon as possible. There was no time for discussion, for whatever crazy idea Amethyst had. They had to get out of here. She couldn't explain this to Steven. It wasn't time yet. He should never have to see it. She wanted him to keep his innocence.

Of course, she hadn't realized the way that Amethyst felt. Pearl had fought battles here and only had negative memories. Except, of course, for the time they'd found Amethyst and coaxed her out of her hole.

"You're the one good thing that came out of this mess," she said, and meant it.

*

Later, after Steven had dinner and went to bed, exhausted, Pearl found Amethyst sitting on the roof. She leaped up to join her, tucking her sash down again, and Amethyst didn't move away. Pearl wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what, so finally she inched over and put an arm around Amethyst's shoulder. Once they had been so close. Once, Amethyst wouldn't have hesitated to climb into her lap and make her name out of all the stars. Had that only been a few years ago?

"I'm glad you're here," Pearl said finally, and Amethyst relaxed into her arm.


	89. Horror Club 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Greg plan his Halloween costume. Gen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm aware that the Crewniverse said that Halloween doesn't exist in Steven Universe but I wrote this ficlet a week before I found that out, and it's seasonably appropriate, so enjoy it anyway!

Steven planned his costume over the entire month of October, changing his plan almost every day depending on what he was most interested in. At four, his interests varied quite a bit. Greg helped him construct a robot head from an old box, and later found him a cowboy hat in the depths of the storage unit when he decided he wanted to play cowboy.

"This is going to be way easier once you figure out how to shapeshift," Greg said to his son, and then bit his lip, but Steven didn't seem to think it was unusual. He was playing that he'd turned into a lion and he walked around on all fours, roaring at the van.

"Dad, Dad!" he said, holding his hands up like paws. "Can I be a lion for Halloween?"

"You bet," Greg said. He dug around underneath the passenger seat of the van until he found a battered pink feather boa, a legacy of his full-time band days. Greg had never worn it himself, but Marty had very briefly dated an exotic dancer. Steven took it and wrapped it around his head like a mane.

Greg watched his son laugh and play, and hoped he'd have a lot more Halloweens before they became dull to him and commonplace. You only got one childhood, after all, and his was stranger than most.

"A bear is attacking the lions!" he said, holding up his hands like claws and stomping toward his son, who giggled and ran away until Greg caught up and began to maul -- that is, tickle him.

For Halloween, Steven went as a tiny rocker, his fist clenched around the neck of a new ukulele, and he was the happiest kid in Beach City that night.


	90. Horror Club 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sadie/Ronaldo. The aftermath of the night at the lighthouse is a little less scary.

The day after the incident in the lighthouse, Ronaldo texted Sadie. She'd given him her number before she left.

_Ronaldo F. 10:33am  
how are u feeling today?_

Sadie had woken from troubled dreams several times during the night, and she didn't feel entirely rested. Turned out that Evil Bear, CGI or not, was the sort of thing that got stuck in her psyche. And of course there'd been the whole lighthouse-attempting-to-eat-her thing. She'd gone home and taken a shower to get the hot, spiced smell of old wood off her skin, but she could still smell it in her dreams.

_Sadie 10:35am  
tired, hopeful. you ok?_

Ronaldo didn't answer right away. Sadie finally got out of bed, giving up on any extra sleep, and started getting dressed. Her shift at the Big Donut didn't start until 2, but she should probably do some laundry first.

_Ronaldo F. 11:01am  
yeah. sorry u had to deal with that_

Sadie turned the washer on and leaned up against it, enjoying the warmth.

_Sadie 11:04am  
dont worry, i'm a pro. do you think we should move movie night tho?_

_Ronaldo F. 11:05am  
Steven says it's safe now but idk. lars might make it mad again._

Sadie sighed, reading the message. She hadn't moved to Beach City until she was in fifth grade, and she'd had no idea that there had been history between Ronaldo and Lars. She'd figured that Lars didn't like Ronaldo because he was kind of weird, and because Lars didn't really like anyone, at least not that he'd admit to. This was just sad. She went into the kitchen and poured herself some cereal.

_Sadie 11:14am  
Maybe just you and me? heard there's going to be a horror fest in empire city in a couple weeks._

She hit send and sat down on the couch, opening the email again on her phone. The message proclaimed _Halloween at Thanksgiving!!_ in bright white letters. She'd been thinking about asking Lars to go, but he'd probably complain the whole time about seeing zippers on the classic costumes. Sadie liked the cheese of the older films.

_Ronaldo F. 11:21am  
so there, give me the deets!!!_

Sadie smiled and forwarded the email to the address on the Keep Beach City Weird blog.


	91. Horror Club 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lars and Ronaldo gen. How the two friends met.

Lars met Ronaldo on the first day of kindergarten. Ronaldo had looked forward to starting school and getting away from his crying baby brother. Lars had been terrified, and spent most of the day sniffling. Ronaldo felt sorry for him.

When they were dismissed for recess, most of the kids took the opportunity to run around the playground playing tag or kickball. Lars hovered on the edge of the blacktop, arms wrapped around his body. Ronaldo was breathless with excitement and didn't even mind it when he got tagged. He ran up and grabbed Lars's shoulder.

"What?" Lars said, bottom lip wobbling.

"You're it!" Ronaldo explained patiently, and he ran. When he turned to look, Lars was right behind him.


	92. Horror Club 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lighthouse Gem gen. She liked being taken care of.

As a lighthouse, she watched, patiently beaming her cold white light into the ocean fog as a warning to passing sailors. But by the time that Ronaldo discovered the place and rattled the rusting lock, she hadn't been in service for a long time. She had watched the sea then, but no one saw her, and mostly she had slept, dreaming of far-off worlds she had once known and couldn't completely remember.

It was hard for her to think, sometimes. She knew this wasn't her usual shape, but she couldn't remember how she'd gotten here. There were some centuries she'd spent buried deep in calming earth, and she hadn't wanted to rise again. She hurt sometimes, and her dreams were uneasy. But then, much later, someone had built the lighthouse on her hillside, and the rock called to her. She was lonely, and she answered.

No human wanted to stay in the lighthouse, although they couldn't explain why. Superstition was enough, in those days. They climbed her steps and lit and extinguished her light, but they stayed in the little cottage at the base, and no man went up those stairs alone, not if he could help it. She tried to talk to them sometimes, but they didn't want to listen, and she couldn't form her words right. She didn't have a proper mouth.

But eventually they extinguished her lantern and never lit it again, and she was alone for a countless time. When Ronaldo came the first time, he found her dusty, full of cobwebs, but he didn't care. The lock had nearly crumbled in his hands, and here was a perfect private place to be his clubhouse.

She'd woken screaming. She'd forgotten pain. She knew it again, now. She scanned back through her memories and found the face of the one who had hurt her, but she never saw him again, only the gentle child. He patted her wall and talked to her sometimes, and asked her how she'd died. She didn't know. He wanted her to move books or make sounds, but she was just too tired.

She watched him. He wasn't scared of her occasional whisper, and instead welcomed it. He spent hours reading about her history, trying to stir up old stories. She wasn't sure how she could make him happy, so she just observed him growing older.

That was, until she saw the other boy again and it all came back, hot and angry. The lighthouse opened her mouth and screamed a whisper of his name, urgently jumping to defense. And when the Gem tried to stop her, she showed him what she'd seen.

"Rest," he said to her, and finally, she did.


	93. Winter Forecast 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby/Sapphire. Garnet has shared her future vision more than once, even before she was Garnet.

Ruby couldn't look at Sapphire. Inside, she was boiling over with anger, but long habit made her hold it inside. Gems weren't supposed to be so emotional. She clutched Sapphire's hand hard, and Sapphire didn't protest. She leaned into Ruby's warmth.

"What do they know?" Ruby muttered. She'd been mumbling a string of similar imprecations as they sat there together, finally alone. It was hard to find a moment to themselves when they were on planet. There was a job to do. There always was. Rose Quartz didn't have to give her underlings as much time off as she did, and they made sure to take advantage of it, warping as far away as possible while staying in the same solar system.

Suddenly Sapphire stiffened, and then she laughed.

"What?" Ruby said, leaning back in confusion.

"They just don't see it, Ruby," Sapphire said.

"That's the problem!" Ruby burst out.

"But we can," she said gently, kissing Ruby on the lips and feeding her the future. They sat in silence for a long time after that. All of Ruby's rage had fled. She was thinking about Garnet.

"Would you dance with me, Sapphire?" she said, but Sapphire was already pulling her to her feet.


	94. Winter Forecast 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose/Greg. The last time Greg wore that white leisure suit.

"You're not wearing your band t-shirt," Rose observed when Greg met her at the temple door. He blushed, scratching the back of his neck.

"I thought I should wear something, you know, nice," he said. The leisure suit still fit pretty well, he thought. His girlfriend at the time had told him that he looked great in their prom pictures, the white contrasting nicely with her bright green gown. But being so formal with Rose seemed odd, somehow. He'd never seen her wear shoes, and he wasn't even sure she understood the point of humans changing clothes.

"Why?" she asked, taking his hand and walking with him back towards the boardwalk. They had settled into a rhythm by now. Rose asked him any questions that she wanted to, and he did his best to answer them. She got better and better at understanding humanity and his point of view, but he could still surprise her. He liked that.

He asked her questions sometimes, too, but Rose reserved the right not to answer him. There was a lot he didn't understand about Gems, a lot that Rose swore he didn't need to know. He was going to keep working on it, though. Communication was key, they'd both decided.

"Because it's our anniversary," Greg told Rose. "Today, one year ago, you came to my show. It's a special day."

Rose's eyes lit up with delight. "Anniversaries! Oh, what a wonderful idea! How sweet, to have a day to celebrate us. It's like a human birthday, right?"

Greg smiled. "Exactly. It's the birthday of our relationship. I wrote a song for it!"

Rose squeezed his hand. "And you changed your clothes."

"Do you like it?" he asked, a bit hesitant.

She tweaked a shoulder pad and giggled. "I like your stars better," she told him. "But you could definitely go to space in an outfit like that."

"You take me there," he said, beginning to sing.


	95. Winter Forecast 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven/Connie fluff. Another winter, years later.

"Do you remember the first time we did this?" Steven said sleepily, his shoulder pressed into Connie's arm. She resettled the blanket over them, attempting to cover her feet, and said, "Yeah... that first winter, right? When it stormed so bad you and your dad had to stay over?"

"Yeah!" he said, smiling at the memory. "We watched it snow until we fell asleep and then in the morning we made Crystal Gem snowmen."

It didn't snow in Beach City often, and Connie wasn't there most of the time when it did. Usually Steven played in the snow with Amethyst until Pearl got too worried about him getting cold, and then he'd drink two cups of hot chocolate. Steven wasn't sure where the Gems were tonight. The war was over, but since he'd begun to heal the corrupted Gems, there was a lot to do to get them integrated into society, or to help them move to a different planet if they wanted to go. But they didn't work every day, and if they were on a mission, they hadn't asked him along. 

Really, he was pretty sure that they knew he had a date, and wanted to give him space. They'd gotten a lot better about that over the years.

"That feels like so long ago," Connie said, as Steven's fingers brushed over one of the many scars on her arm. 

"I bet we can make even better snowmen tomorrow," Steven said, yawning.

"You're on," she said, and then they sat in silence, watching the snow drift out of the sky.


	96. Maximum Capacity 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg, Amethyst, and baby Steven. The first appearance of Li'l Butler.

In Greg's tiny apartment, he left the television on all the time. It was an old TV/VCR combo and he had to adjust the bunny ears a lot, but the bright colors and sounds seemed to soothe and entertain Steven. Plus, Greg liked having the background noise.

He watched a lot of late night infomercials when Steven was teething, and whatever else happened to be on at three in the morning. That's how he started watching Li'l Butler. Reruns ran late nights on a local channel.

Mostly the Gems left him alone. That didn't surprise him, even though it hurt a little. He was grieving too, and taking care of a baby was not easy. He could have used some help. They had all held Steven a few times, once he'd shown them how to support his neck, but they didn't want to be involved. They didn't say that, of course, but every time he went down to the temple and knocked on the door, no one answered.

He saw Amethyst the most. She still visited Vidalia, who never minded it when he called her asking about weird baby things. She'd been through all of it with Sour Cream. Sometimes when he visited, Amethyst would be there and they talked, and it was almost like old times, at least until someone mentioned -- or carefully didn't mention -- Rose.

One night she showed up on his doorstep around eleven, banging on the door so hard that he thought there was a fire in the building. When he opened the door, Steven in his arms, he could tell she'd been crying. She swiped her arm across her eyes and frowned.

"Geez, Greg, what a dump," she said, and moved past him into the apartment. He shut the door. Steven had been drifting off, but the banging at the door had woken him. He wasn't crying, just looking around with a sharp curiosity.

"Hello, Amethyst," Greg said uncertainly.

Amethyst sighed. "Is it okay if I hang out for a while? Pearl and I had another fight and... I don't know, everything's weird now. Even the temple is weird. I don't want to be there."

"Uh, sure," Greg said. Amethyst settled onto his threadbare couch and picked up the remote. She flipped through the channels so fast that they were a blur, and finally settled on a Li'l Butler rerun. He sat down beside her, rubbing circles on Steven's back to encourage him to sleep.

"This isn't real, right? Because people keep laughing and I don't see them," she said.

"Yeah, it's all fake," he confirmed. "They're all actors. That guy playing the butler is a little kid in a wig."

"He looks ridiculous," Amethyst said, and she laughed. They sat in silence for the next two episodes, and then Greg fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning, Amethyst was gone.

She came back a couple weeks later, and then they got sucked into a marathon a week after that. Greg bought some videotapes and recorded the show so they could watch it when they wanted. They talked about the characters and the terrible jokes and what they might have done with another season considering that Li'l Butler was planning to go off to butler college.

They didn't talk about Rose. They didn't talk about Garnet or Pearl either. After a while, Amethyst started helping him with Steven once in a while -- she'd hold Steven or give him a bottle, and when he started to cry she'd turn her face into weird animals and shapes to make him laugh.

Amethyst shapeshifted all the time, and she had ever since he met her. She'd grown up a lot over the last ten years, for some value of growing up -- he knew she was thousands of years old, but unlike the other Gems, she rarely acted like it. They'd all changed a lot.

Amethyst shapeshifted her face into Li'l Butler and wiggled her moustache at Steven. Steven laughed. Greg frowned.

"That's kind of creepy," he said. Amethyst wiggled her nose at him and then shapeshifted back.

"Steven liked it. He likes all my faces," she said.

"He's not going to remember what you really look like at that rate," Greg said, and he laughed without any humor in it.

"Maybe he shouldn't," Amethyst said, biting her lip. "I mean, Garnet and Pearl should be here with him, not me. I don't know what I'm doing. I can't teach him how to be -- whatever he is."

She patted Steven's gem. It still looked huge in his tiny body.

"I'll teach you how not to feel anything at all," she said mockingly, shifting into Garnet's stoic face. "And I'll teach you how to worry about everything!" she said, shifting again into Pearl.

"Stop," Greg said. Amethyst had started crying, and she kept crying as she tried on a dozen different lives. He reached out to touch her arm, and that's when she changed again, growing up and up, and Greg knew who she was becoming. He cried out, but he looked, because he couldn't help himself.

He wanted to see her again so much, but this wasn't right. Amethyst did a great imitation of Rose, but she wasn't Rose. He'd never see Rose again. She'd never laugh at him, or call him her little human man, or swing him around in a circle like he weighed nothing. She'd never say his name again.

"Greg?" Rose said, but it was Amethyst's voice. She was holding Steven just like she was supposed to, and he knew he was sobbing, crying and screaming like he'd done when Rose was dying, the pain so raw and fresh that it was like it had happened yesterday. He still dreamed about her all the time.

He reached out and took the baby with trembling hands, sinking into a crouch on the floor. His legs were done supporting him.

"Get out of here," he said, burying his face in Steven's fluffy hair, and after a minute, the door opened and shut again.

Steven started crying too.


	97. Maximum Capacity 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst gen. After the confrontation, Amethyst goes home.

"You missed the New Year's celebration," Pearl said as soon as Amethyst walked in the door. "Steven was very upset." She was washing some dishes in the sink, and Garnet was nearby, leaning against the kitchen counter. Probably talking about how annoyed they were with her, Amethyst thought. She wouldn't be surprised.

"Yeah, I know," Amethyst said. She glanced back down the beach, but Steven wasn't behind her. He'd probably stay with Greg tonight, she guessed. Neither of them wanted to see her right now.

Amethyst had crossed the house and opened the door to her room when Pearl asked.

"Where's Steven? He said he was going to find you and Greg. It's late, he should be in bed."

She slumped her shoulders, hesitating in the doorway.

"Amethyst?" Pearl pressed, when a moment of silence had passed.

Amethyst took a deep breath.

"I did something bad, and I need help to fix it," she said.

A hand fell on her shoulder. When she looked up in surprise, Garnet was there, wearing her usual implacable expression.

"What do you need?" she asked, and Amethyst started crying.

"He can't throw it all away," she said, "he can't..."

Garnet pulled her down onto her lap. They hadn't done that for a long time -- Amethyst couldn't remember when the last time had been. And Pearl was there too, sitting next to the temple door beside them, just listening. For a moment, the years were rolled back and things were simple. Amethyst tried to explain. When she finished, they all were silent. Amethyst wiped at her eyes.

"I think we need to keep all of Greg's things," Pearl said, and her brow was furrowed. "He had Rose's light cannons… who knows what else might be in there?"

"Agreed," Garnet said.

They didn't talk about the shapeshifting, not until Amethyst had picked the lock on the storage locker and they'd started boxing everything up. Pearl was in the back of the locker, making small displeased noises about a rotten smell, when Garnet put her hand on Amethyst's shoulder.

"I'm a good listener," Garnet said. "If you needed to talk."

Amethyst blushed and nodded.

Later, Pearl handed Amethyst a stack of old greeting cards, and told her quietly, "I'm sorry. I know… it was hard for you too."

Amethyst turned away to put the cards in the correct box, but she didn't complain or answer sarcastically.

She picked up the picture frame, ignoring the glass shards, and looked at it, letting herself be sad, but she thought it was a good kind of sad -- the achy kind that might lead to healing.

"Hey, Pearl," she said, turning back, "where did you stack the art and photos?" There was an old frame with a shot of Marty and Greg in it that she was pretty sure she could use.

It wouldn't make up for the way she'd hurt him, but it was a start.


	98. Marble Madness 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connie and Steven gen. Sharing your fandom with a friend is hard, sometimes.

"I'm so bored," Steven moaned into the phone. "Peedee told me what happened in the season finale of Under the Knife, but there's so much TV I'm missing. And I can't read the No Home Boys books again. It's not fun anymore."

Connie had been reading when her mother told her Steven was on the phone, and she still had her copy of the third book of the Spirit Morph Saga tucked under her arm. The worn corners fit comfortably against her body.

"You should read the Spirit Morph Saga!" she said, getting a brilliant idea. "Oh, I'm sure you'd love them, Steven! And there are four of them so it would take you a while. What's your reading level?"

"My what?" Steven said. "I dunno. What are they about?"

Connie blushed, even though he couldn't see her. What if he didn't like them after all? She'd never shared her favorite book series with anyone before, although she'd always imagined having a friend like Archimicarus she could share everything with. But if he didn't like them, he'd pretend he did, just to make her happy, and she would be super embarrassed.

She definitely wasn't ready to show him her alternate ending fanfiction for the series, either, even if she'd gotten a respectable number of reviews. First things first.

"I'll bring them over next time I visit," she promised, "and tell you all about them."


	99. Marble Madness 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crystal Gems have a strategy meeting.

"We have to do something about the giant robonoids," Amethyst said, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She didn't need sleep, so it was mostly an affectation, but she still missed it as a hobby.

"They just keep coming and coming!" Pearl said, clasping her hands together tightly and rocking a little up on her feet. Steven wasn't invited to this strategy meeting, if that's what it could be called. Garnet had her doubts. He was asleep. They'd been bringing him along to destroy the robonoids, but Garnet had chosen this time of day carefully. She didn't want him to see them spinning in circles, which was how this felt. They were meeting in Pearl's room, which Garnet thought would be the best choice -- that way, they wouldn't be distracted by the clutter of Amethyst's, and she didn't want to have this meeting in Ruby or Sapphire's room. She was a symbol of unity, now and always. The Gems needed that.

She just wanted to punch robots until they went away. That always worked before. They'd retrieve the corrupted Gem and bubble it and then she'd wait for the next one. It was a slower war than they'd been in before. She didn't like being the one who ran it, but she could.

It was times like this that she missed Rose the most. She knew that Amethyst and Pearl were looking to her for a solution, and she didn't have one. It was hard enough to stay focused on the robonoids and stop them before they could get anywhere. And they were getting smarter. They landed in different locations, at different times, with no regularity. Her future vision was choked with possibilities.

"We just have to keep destroying them," she said grimly. Rose would give a speech, Rose would rally them all to her flag. Garnet had been proud to serve with her; she was a brilliant tactician. Garnet was a bruiser -- she liked to be pointed in a direction. She just couldn't get used to doing the pointing.

"There has to be a more efficient way to destroy them," Pearl said hesitantly, looking up at Garnet like she didn't expect to be allowed to speak. She always reverted to her old self a little when she was upset.

"I'm open to suggestions," Garnet said, although it sounded more sarcastic than she'd intended, and she watched Pearl flinch. That wouldn't stop Pearl when she had a theory, though, and she began to project her new battle plan.

"And then if Amethyst swings her whip--"

Garnet was only half-listening. She saw the result of Pearl's plan, and it would work, but that wouldn't be the last robonoid. They'd just keep coming.

She hoped she'd be able to figure out what to do before the future got here.


	100. Marble Madness 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diamonds gen, a strategy meeting. This ficlet was written long before the recent Stevenbomb and has no spoilers for last week's episodes.

"This is a waste of resources," Yellow Diamond said testily.

"Are you kidding?" Blue Diamond answered her.

They were standing around a conference table that had been hastily rendered into a triangular shape. The scorch marks were still visible. White Diamond said nothing, digging her fingernail into the warped metal and tugging.

"Look, do the math. How many Gems could we grow on this planet? It's small. Lot of metal in the core, but that's difficult to get too without ruining operations on the surface. Too much useless water. The lapis lazulis are unstable -- we've already had to decommission a number of them. The jaspers and amethysts are poor quality. It's not worth it."

White Diamond pulled hard and a long piece of metal came off with a groaning shriek. She squeezed it between her palms into a lopsided ball.

"She's right," White Diamond said, causing a ripple of surprise in her companions. White Diamond never agreed with Yellow Diamond unless she saw no other alternative. They were always fighting over something, the specifics an excuse. Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond rarely agreed on tactics, but there was no animosity to that.

Pink Diamond had kept an uneasy peace between them all. No one mentioned her. They talked about the rebellion in purposefully vague terms. No one would say that name again. Not in their hearing, anyway.

"Strike it out," Yellow Diamond said, warming up to the idea even more as she spoke. "We'll mark it as useless and currently unoccupied. Take it out of exploratory rotation. What are they going to do? There's no way they could fight _us_ on Homeworld, they're barely hanging on as it is."

"That's why we should just finish them!" Blue Diamond pushed. 

Yellow Diamond was managing affairs on Homeworld. The war was an abstraction to her, a cost. And they were hemorrhaging troops into the Crystal Gem affair. It was true -- they could push forward and destroy all of them -- but it would be another ten-cycle if not longer, and there were thousands of better, mineral-rich planets in the galaxy. She rolled her eyes. Blue Diamond was a hothead, a fighter, and useless when it came to practicalities like these. She had been the one who modified the table in a fit of rage when this whole affair had started.

White Diamond pressed the ball of metal back against the table edge, smoothing it out and around like it was no harder than modeling clay. She left the corners sharp, but now the change looked intentional.

"It's a waste of time," White Diamond said. "I say aye."

"At least let me try the destabilizing weapon," Blue Diamond said. "It's already on the way there."

Yellow Diamond shrugged. She'd gotten her way; she could afford to be generous, especially since that meant she could call in a favor later.

"Fine," she said. "But we're aborting this mission after that, even if the weapon fails. Now, let's discuss the Oracle system ramp-up project..."


	101. Marble Madness 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot said she was going to report what was going on. She was telling the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another one that has become non canon-compliant. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

**From** : "Peridot 13558978-35" peridot135589-35@science.homeworld.gov  
 **To** : "Corundum 89000146-34" corundum89000146-34@science.homeworld.gov  
 **Subject** : RE: Earth Kindergarten Experiments Behind Schedule  
 **Flagged** : High importance  
 **Attached:** kindergarten_status_check_log_EARTH_3423542545445.mp3

Corundum:

Regarding Planet Earth Kindergarten Status--

While conducting a routine investigation and maintenance of the area, my efforts to retrieve data and resume experiments were interrupted by a native of the planet and three unknown Gems calling themselves "Crystal Gems." All public records indicate that no Gems currently live in the Crystal solar system or on this planet Earth. Please see attached log with specific details of encounter.

These Crystal Gems have been destroying all Gem tech that I have sent to their planet, including several robonoids, warp access to other galaxies, and at least one Red Eye. They are responsible for a number of delays on this project and are the sole reason that it is now behind schedule and over budget.

Recommend forwarding this issue to Yellow Diamond for resolution. I will wait for your response to proceed.

Peridot 13558978-35


	102. Rose's Scabbard 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl, Rose, and those three hour walks. Pearl/Rose. Non canon-compliant.

There'd been a closer warp pad once, but even then, they'd had a long walk. Pearl didn't mind. No one knew where they were, a fact that sent sparks all the way down to her toes. She wrapped her arm around Rose's, resting her hand on Rose's upper arm. They were mostly quiet -- Rose was lost in thought, and Pearl didn't need her to say anything. They could just be together.

Rose sighed. "I was hoping we wouldn't need to use this," she said. "Not ever."

"It's going to be all right," Pearl said. "We're going to win. With you guiding us, and everyone giving their all. We'll definitely succeed."

She smiled up at Rose, and Rose smiled back, but her eyes looked tired. She had a lot on her mind. Pearl understood. She was trying to do everything she could to make Rose's job easier. Today, that included accompanying her to the armory, which was really more of a pleasure than a chore. Sometimes Rose would tell her stories about how she'd designed her weapons, or about Gems she'd once known on Homeworld. She found it all fascinating.

"Oh, my Pearl," Rose said fondly, "I hope you're right."

They walked through the quiet countryside together, Rose's hand tangled with Pearl's. Rose was wearing her sword at her hip, and it bumped into Pearl a few times, a reminder of the trouble they were in. But this was early days in the war, before they'd lost too many friends, and Pearl didn't mind too much.

"Remember, Pearl, you mustn't tell anyone about this place," she said, as they neared their destination. Rose always said that, and Pearl had always nodded. Today she hesitated.

"What if -- we need it?" she asked. Of course, Rose would have to be there to make the decision, but Pearl was more worried, suddenly, than she had been even earlier that day, when Rose asked her to come along.

Rose shook her head. "There are things here that Homeworld can't have access to. They could destroy the planet in a moment."

"I promise," Pearl said. She bowed deeply.

"Pearl--" Rose began, and then she sighed. She gave Pearl another smile. "Let's go in. I want to get back before Ruby and Sapphire do -- before Garnet does." They were still adjusting to that as well.

"Good idea," Pearl said. She still didn't know what to think about Ruby and Sapphire's choice to be Garnet forever. But she -- she would like to be Rainbow Quartz again. A lot. So she was trying to adjust. It was just that Garnet wasn't anything like the two of them as individuals. Rose still trusted Garnet nearly as much as she trusted Pearl, but Pearl was trying to figure out how to feel about it.

She followed Rose into the armory and waited patiently for her to finish picking through her weaponry and figuring out what to take with them. She took the burden without complaint.

"It will be dark before we get back," Pearl said, and she was right. They walked back to the warp pad under a curtain of stars.


	103. Rose's Scabbard 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Rose's death, Pearl cataloged the armory.

Pearl cataloged the armory after Rose was gone. She had a long list of tasks that she scheduled in to preoccupy herself in the midst of her agony. She scrubbed the temple until her fingers bled, she did long-term maintenance on every warp pad, and when she couldn't think of anything else to do, she walked down to the armory and began to make a record.

Had Rose ever sorted out everything she kept here? Some of it was still blood-stained, and other things were jumbled into corners without order. She didn't think Rose had been back since the war had ended. She always said she wanted to put it all behind her.

Pearl didn't even know the stories behind every piece of weaponry and armor. She knew enough. She named them out to herself. There was Citrine's armor, and Amber's, and Jasper's, both of them, but there were older pieces too. There was Rose's armor, dented and cheerfully pink. She took her time polishing that.

Why did Rose have an iron maiden? Pearl didn't remember it having been used. And some of the axes were newer than others. There were filigreed, useless weapons that they'd been given as thanks for rescuing kings and fighting alongside princesses. Rose was sentimental and she'd kept them all.

And there was Pearl's first rapier. When she found it, her hands quit working and it fell to the floor with a clatter. That didn't help the shape it was in, but then again, it was very old. Pearl could remember standing right here, in the armory, when Rose handed it to her, eyes wide as she spoke to Pearl, like she was sharing a secret.

"But I'm a pearl," Pearl had said.

"You're more than that," Rose had said, and Pearl wanted to believe it more than anything else in the world. So she'd fought with that sword until the blade had dulled, and then she fought more. They'd won, but it was all for nothing now that Rose was gone.

She hadn't known that Rose had kept her training sword. It was lightweight, brittle, good for fencing but not much else. By the time the fight had come home to them, she'd had a better sword, forged by their most capable Topaz. She hadn't thought about the sword for centuries. She hadn't even known when Rose had taken it. It should have been in her own weaponry collection.

She left it there, among the rest of the collection, like a reminder to herself. Perhaps no one else would see it again, ever. But she knew it was there.


	104. Rose's Scabbard 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet has to trust Pearl to do the right thing, no matter all the things she can see. Rose/Pearl, Ruby/Sapphire, undetailed mention of physical abuse.

"Well, I'm going to go find her," Steven said, determined, and Garnet didn't reply. She'd done that before, plenty of times. Pearl had screamed and railed at her, bringing up everything in memory that Garnet had ever done wrong over their long, shared existences. It didn't hurt Garnet's feelings -- what was done, was done. But she knew that whatever anyone said to Pearl wouldn't matter, not when she was like this. She was lashing outward because the pain was still raw. Maybe ten years was a long time to a human, but to a Gem it could feel like the blink of an eye.

Garnet's heart ached too, but Pearl had had this idea that no one had loved Rose like she had. In truth, they all had loved her. She'd saved them all, and loved them despite their flaws. But Pearl was caught up in old feelings of weakness and pain. She spiraled down like this sometimes. She had beaten bruises into Garnet's body many times. Garnet hadn't begrudged her the pain. It felt good to have an outward expression of the ache, for both of them.

Pearl had loved Rose differently -- Garnet knew that. She'd loved Rose like Ruby loved Sapphire, and Garnet wouldn't exist without a love like that. It was no wonder Pearl thought she couldn't be real, sometimes.

She couldn't explain that to Steven. There weren't words for it, or she didn't have them. The future was roiling in her sight, and she clutched hard at the frame of Rose's painting.

There was a future where Steven fell, where he slipped and dropped and clutched at the air --

She wouldn't be able to hold him back, no matter what happened. He was just like his mother in that.

"Good luck," she said, and waited, pensively, for them to return.


	105. Rose's Scabbard 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl tells Steven the story of the Strawberry Fields battle.

Steven pulled item after item out of Lion's mane, looking desperately for something he could use to cheer up Pearl. Not the video -- that was, well, private, and he didn't have a TV he could play it on here. Not Dad's shirt, because it would be too big for Pearl. She'd seen the sword, and he didn't think she'd really want the bubbled Gem in there -- it wasn't really that fun. She'd put the hat on and the scarf, but she didn't watch Physician Alien so he knew she was just humoring him. She still looked so lost.

But the flag -- the flag that had his mother's symbol -- it was old, like the sword. Pearl might like to see it again too. And he was right -- she lit up when he pulled it out.

"Rose's standard!" she said, clutching at the scarf.

"It's a flag," he said helpfully.

"Yes, yes," Pearl said, "but it's _her_ flag. Her battle standard. Someone always carried it with us when we fought so we could tell which side was ours in the heat of the fight."

She took it from him gently and smoothed out some of the creases, but it was still ragged and torn. Looking over him, over the battlefield, Steven could tell she was lost in memory. He almost expected her to project his mother again, to share her words in Pearl's voice, but instead she planted the flag firmly through a strawberry patch.

"Humans wrote an epic poem about the battle we held here," Pearl said. "...I only helped a little. Have I ever shared it with you, Steven? It doesn't scan so well in your language, but I'll do my best."

There was an enormous spear sticking out of the ground behind them, the blade rusting quietly into the brush. Pearl used it as a backdrop for her story.

"Hark!" she began, "The gods stood assembled on the fields / Their anger stretching into the sky. / The beautiful queen wept at the destruction she knew would follow / And every tear grew up as lotus blossoms -- They were sacred flowers at the time, Steven. / "Alas," said she, "for on this field we die or live, but for the Earth we fight. / Our home, our future, begins here." / And her most beloved knight lifted a blade and pledged to follow..."

The poem was really long, and it didn't rhyme, and Steven didn't understand all the words, even though Pearl stopped to explain some of the more obscure references. She pointed at the sites of skirmishes, waving a break in the line and a strategic retreat, followed by a rally. It was kind of like watching the Historical Society channel on television, except that none of the old guys who talked had ever lived through the time they talked about.

"And then--" she said, and paused, and Steven looked up. He'd been dozing a little against Lion's warm back, but he was still mostly paying attention. She deflated a little, dropping her arms, looking at him, looking past him.

"And then what?" Steven asked.

"It doesn't matter," Pearl said. "It's getting late. Would you like to go home?"

She climbed up behind him on Lion's back without a protest, and Steven patted Lion, asking him quietly to go easy for Pearl. To his surprise, Lion did, and they walked in silence through the twilight field towards home.


	106. Open Book 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie's goodreads reviews for Spirit Morph Saga.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using [Ian's intended order list](http://ianjq.tumblr.com/post/123939657564/now-that-all-the-season-1-episodes-are-out-could) to determine what episodes are supposed to be in Season 1, so you will notice a deviation from the actual aired list. I plan to do the same thing for Season 2.

_Destiny's End_ by Tamora Wynne Lewis  
Average rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The final book in the Spirit Morph Saga. After Lisa and Archimicarus have defeated the Dark Authority, there's a lot of rebuilding to do in Sky Kingdom. And they have one last quest to make everything right, a quest of the heart...

**beachreader** rated it 1 out of 5 stars

After growing up alongside Lisa and waiting impatiently for this book to come out, I found myself disillusioned and disappointed by the ending. SMS has consistently subverted familiar fantasy tropes, with Lisa the unconventional heroine who took charge simply because no one else would. With the Dark Authority defeated, I was looking forward to reading about the political struggles of rebuilding a government, and what challenges still remained to the rebels after the long war. Instead, I got pages and pages of wedding cake descriptions! I don't care what kind of dress Lisa wore! (And the dress described wasn't anything like the dresses they would have worn in that pseudo-medieval fantasy period anyway.) Why did Archimicarus have to become human?

As far as I'm concerned the series ended after book three.

95 likes -- 30 comments

**stevenquartz** rated it 5 out of 5 stars

I loved this book so much!!! I want to eat that cake!

Lisa/Arkimikarus forever! I'm so happy that they got married. They loved each other so much.

234 likes -- 5 comments


	107. Shirt Club 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So why exactly were the Gems putting together some stools?

Every once in a while Greg would come over and knock at the temple door, which Pearl still found a little eerie. It was too much like what he had done when he and Rose were together, like a little boy waiting for a friend coming out to play. She'd seen it countless times with Steven's friends.

But she never answered -- Amethyst did, and Pearl didn't say anything about that at all. They disappeared into her room, but never for too long, and then Greg would emerge with some gadget or another, thanking Amethyst as he strode back down to the beach.

They weren't watching that show, and no one was fighting. She wasn't going to complain.

One day, though, after Greg left, Pearl emerged from the temple to make Steven's lunch and found a bunch of boxes stacked haphazardly against the coffee table.

"Amethyst, what's this?" she asked. Amethyst's feet were resting on the boxes, and she was eating a sandwich messily. Pearl tried not to look.

"Dunno," Amethyst said, shrugging. "Greg said we could have them. Chairs, I think."

"Where do you sit?" Pearl said, and pulled a box out from under Amethyst's feet (she helpfully lifted them after Pearl was done). She opened the box and examined the parts.

"Oh, I see," she said, and began to pull them out and set them carefully beside her. She began to compare them against the list she found in the box.

"This seems easy enough," she said. It was then that Garnet warped back into the temple, a bubbling hovering above her hand. She took in the scene.

"Steven's eating lunch with Greg," she said.

"Do you want to help me, Garnet?" Pearl asked. "Greg left us a gift... apparently."

"All right," Garnet said, yanking on another box, and by the time that Steven showed up, they had failed to assemble two out of three stools. This was harder than they'd thought.

When he left again, Amethyst yawned and stretched, brushing against her stool, which immediately fell apart.

"I say, let's throw these back in my room and forget we ever found them," she said.

"Deal," Garnet said, gathering her comrades and their failed furniture alike, and they buried the stools together in the middle of Amethyst's least favorite junk pile.


	108. Shirt Club 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't the first time Steven had asked the Gems for help with human things.

The Gems had a rule of noninterference in human relationships. They hadn't always been very good at keeping that rule, but they did their best, especially with Steven. Greg had requested it specially after that last time, when they'd attacked the children Steven was trick-or-treating with. It was for the best, really. Human culture changed too quickly -- they were always behind on the times. The kind of thing that used to make humans run for their pitchforks and torches now made them shrug. And other items they should be familiar with, like monsters and spaceships, terrified them.

Their decision was sometimes difficult to manage with Steven around. He spent time with townspeople and his father, and had plenty of human friends. Sometimes, that meant he had human drama.

"We wouldn't be doing this if you'd remembered the rule," Amethyst mumbled as she stared at Garnet. "They're playing with swords, seriously?"

"Like you're one to talk," Pearl said, shooting her a look. "Don't think I don't remember what happened with the replicator wand."

"Enough," Garnet said, adjusting her glasses. "Let's form Alexandrite and get this over with."

She started tapping her foot to get them on the same tempo. And after the meeting was over and the problem settled once and for all, they came together and agreed, again: no human drama.

So once they'd established that this Buck character wasn't victim of a Gem beast or under the control of Peridot or some other Gem, they were happy to butt out.

Pearl was pretty sure that they were about finished building those stools, anyway, and that was probably more important.


	109. Say Uncle 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So how did Sadie and Lars end up on that boat anyway? Sadie/Lars.

Ever since Lars, Sadie, Steven, and Ronaldo had survived the events of Ronaldo's horror movie club, which had since been permanently disbanded, Lars had been acting really strange. At first Sadie thought it was because the Gem stuff freaked him out -- she didn't blame him, it felt weird to her too. She was really beginning to feel worried about all of the trouble Steven seemed to get into on a regular basis. He was just a little kid, after all, even if he was half-Gem.

It was different than how he'd acted after they came back from the island, though. Back then, all he'd wanted was to get away from her. For weeks, he'd treated her like she had some terrible contagious disease, and although she understood why, it still hurt. Things were just starting to get back to normal when this happened.

If she didn't know better, she'd say Lars was... hovering. Like he thought that being in the mouth of a crazy lighthouse monster had hurt her really bad, even though she'd hardly had any bruises the next day. She'd been scared, sure, and cramped, and still picking splinters out of her skin a week later, but she was fine. Ronaldo had called her the next day to make sure she was okay, and Lars had texted her. A couple weekends later, she and Ronaldo had gone to that big horror festival and Lars had taken her shift and spent the whole day texting her about every customer that came in to the Big Donut. Whenever she stepped out to go to the concession stand, she'd had fifteen messages. At first she'd thought her Great-Uncle Marc had died or something.

She texted Lars back a little, but the strangest thing had happened a few days later. The Big Donut was going to be closed on Saturday, completely closed, for the annual cleaning and restocking. Sadie totally could have handled it, but the manager wanted to come in with a special crew from corporate and she'd given both Sadie and Lars the day off. That Friday, they were both working hard to make sure the store was ready. At least, Lars was definitely sweeping some while he rocked out to the loud music coming from his earbuds.

Sadie had every other Saturday off, but this one felt special. She was trying to decide if she should go to the mall and get her mom's birthday gift when Lars coughed loudly and shoved his hands in his pockets. His fingers emerged holding paper instead of the little plastic rectangle she'd expected.

"So!" he said. "I have, uh. Tickets." He looked at her and then looked away.

"What band are you seeing? Is it for the Chaos performance tomorrow? They're the best!" she said, scrubbing at the corner of the display case.

"No, no, no!" he said, and then coughed again. "They're um. My cousin, he works for a cruise liner, for Reggie's Day Cruises, you know?"

Sadie nodded. She wasn't sure how a day cruise business stayed viable in a small town like Beach City, but she always thought it looked exciting. Despite living on the beach, she rarely went out into the open water.

"He gave me an extra ticket so I wanted to know if you would go no big deal you don't have to!" he said, jamming all the words together in a hurry that took Sadie a moment to interpret. When she did, a smile broke across her face.

"Sure! Definitely! I'd love to!" she said, feeling the blush rise to her cheeks, and although she looked away quickly, she thought Lars might be blushing too.


	110. Story for Steven 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of how Greg and Marty met.

Greg's Econ professor was at least half an hour late every day, and often didn't bother to attend the class he taught. Greg had taken to bringing a guitar with him to lecture so he could at least get something done. Songs weren't going to write themselves.

He often had a small crowd, even when he was just strumming. Mostly it was girls, all asking him to write a song for them like they didn't understand the creative process. He was really into space right now. It had nothing to do with the fact that his girlfriend had broken up with him a few weeks before. At least, that was what he'd say.

One day, an hour into the class period, he was working on the verses to what would become Comet when a strange person slinked into the classroom and sidled up to Greg. He was tall and skinny and grinning like he'd heard something hilarious.

"Listen to that!" he said to Greg.

"What?" Greg said, and he stopped playing, confused.

"No, no!" the man said, gesturing widely. "Keep going. You've got talent!"

"Me?" Greg said. He'd always played music, picking up a guitar when his hands were large enough to reach completely around the neck, but he'd never really thought about being good or bad. He played music because he loved it, and he didn't need another reason.

By the time that the class was over, Marty had talked Greg into a deal. Greg would supply the van -- the old one he'd bought when he turned sixteen, plus a new coat of paint -- and his music, and Marty would make all of the arrangements for a very reasonable percentage of Greg's profits. He knew producers and people who worked at record companies. Greg could record his songs and sell them on tour.

Greg was going to be famous. Marty kept calling him Starchild and patting him on the back and grinning.

He dropped out of community college the next week and never looked back.


	111. Story for Steven 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Rose disappeared from his show, Greg walked through Beach City looking for her. Greg/Rose, Vidalia/Marty.

It was a small town. Greg tried the grocery store first, figuring that every woman had to eat, but the grocery store clerk gave him a blank stare when he described her. It was the same at the French fry restaurant, the arcade (he did take a brief break to play a round of Pac Man), and the gas station. The clerks shared looks with their customers or just looked away, sounding bored. And they all said the same thing. 

"You aren't from around here, are you, boy?"

"Nope," he responded, handing them flyers with his next few tour dates just in case they felt like a road trip. Couldn't hurt. Plus, if they saw the woman, they could give her a flier too. She probably wasn't from around here either. He didn't know how anyone could miss her. She'd lit up the entire beach brighter than all his stage lights.

He stepped out of the music supply store, shoving some new picks into his pocket and slumping his shoulders a little. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Marty's date -- he recognized the leather jacket. She popped her gum.

"That woman went off to the other side of the beach when you were talking to Marty," she told him.

Greg's heart leapt in his chest. "She did? Thank you!"

"Marty says we're leaving by six," she told him. Mentally, Greg subtracted two hours from the time. Marty always told the women he dated in these little towns the wrong time in case they decided they wanted to run away with him. (Marty had a creepy attitude towards women that was making Greg increasingly uncomfortable.)

"Thanks," he told her. "Uh, see you then."

"Whatever," Vidalia said, but Greg wasn't listening any longer. He was headed back towards the beach, his head full of bright pink hair.


	112. Story for Steven 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Greg left, the Gems agreed that it was a good idea that he had gone. Sort of.

"Well, I'm glad _that_ 's over," Pearl said, sighing. "Can you imagine? A human! Am I right?"

"We used to hang out with humans all the time," Rose said. Pearl blinked, but then her expression eased.

"Well, sure, but we remember how that worked out," Pearl said, laughing nervously.

"I do," Garnet said. She folded her arms.

"Aww, why can't we keep him?" Amethyst asked. "He played music! And he had great hair! Like almost as much hair as you have, Rose!"

Rose laughed then, and reached for Amethyst, who was happy to climb up on her hip. She twirled her fingers through a stray curl.

"Humans are trouble," Pearl said. "They don't understand Gems and what we do for them. And it's so hard to get rid of them after you let them stick around for a while! At least for the next fifty years or so. They always seem to get in the way."

"Hmm," Garnet said. They all looked at her.

"Did you see something, Garnet?" Rose asked after a moment.

"Corrupted Gem," Garnet said shortly. "We should go."

She stepped up on the warp pad, and the others followed. None of them noticed how tightly she was clutching her fists.


	113. The Message 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I never started a car with a key before!" Or, Amethyst and Vidalia's friendship.

At first Amethyst had thought Greg was really interesting, but as time went on he just got more and more mushy with Rose, like Ruby and Sapphire were when Garnet unfused, and that was _boring_. So she mostly quit hanging out with Greg when he came to the temple.

Vidalia was a completely different story. She was getting rounder every day but didn't let that keep her from being awesome. She loved painting Amethyst in every form that Amethyst could think of and even made her own suggestions sometimes. Amethyst wasn't always good at sitting still for long periods, but neither was Vidalia. She had to go inside the house and use the bathroom a lot, so it worked out.

Vidalia always had interesting ideas. Sometimes they walked up to the lighthouse and sat on the edge, kicking their feet, and sometimes they went down to the shoreline and practiced skipping rocks. Amethyst was up to four skips in a row.

Once in a while, they did something even cooler.

"It's really easy," Vidalia promised. "I've got the wheel. See those two wires -- tie them together."

Amethyst did and the little rusty car roared to life. She scrambled back up into the seat.

"Yeah, it's not the nicest car, but I have to get around, you know?" Vidalia said. Amethyst drummed her feet cheerfully.

"Walking is slow," Amethyst said. She preferred flying, but since Vidalia couldn't do it and she said that being carried made her feel sick, they did a lot of walking.

"Now I can go to the grocery store once a week and everything," Vidalia said, easing the car into gear and out into the street. She chuckled. "Look at me -- turning into my mom already."

"You don't look anything like your mom," Amethyst said. She'd seen photographs in Vidalia's apartment.

"That's not what I meant," Vidalia said, shooting Amethyst a smile before looking back to the road. "Just, don't abandon me if I suddenly get uncool, okay?"

"Never!" Amethyst promised, and she leaned out the open car window into the wind.


	114. The Message 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Lapis sent her message.

It wasn't like anyone told a lapis lazuli anything. At least, not on purpose. That much hadn't changed since Lapis was on Homeworld last time. She only found out about Peridot and the mission to the Crystal system because everyone was talking about it. One of the citrines in Scheduling was definitely going to be in trouble later, but Lapis was glad for it.

Sort of.

She didn't owe the Crystal Gems anything except maybe a few swift kicks. With the possible exception of Steven -- she was pretty sure he had no idea what they were capable of, and what they had done. He'd set her free, and she was grateful for that, even if he hadn't known what he was doing.

And he would be crushed by Peridot and Jasper. She doubted they'd even hesitate. If Yellow Diamond had plans for Earth again, like the other Gems were whispering, they wouldn't stand for any resistance. How they'd survived on that planet for so long Lapis had no idea. But whatever they'd done before to get Homeworld to leave them alone, it wasn't going to work now. That she knew for sure. Homeworld had changed a lot since she had been there -- it was like going home to an entirely different planet, a different society. Of her cohort, most didn't even exist anymore, and the lapis lazulis that were coming from newer Gem-controlled planets were uninterested in her. They had all the upgrades; to them she was an antique, and a volatile, untrustworthy one at that.

But what could she do? She had no way of communicating with Earth -- the Crystal Gems had been careful to remove all access and contact points for their own defense. The planet-to-planet communication devices they were building now hadn't existed when Earth was Gem-controlled, and when the old technology broke, it was recycled or dumped. The new stuff was better.

Lapis had heard that a lot these past few weeks.

It wasn't until the week before the scheduled launch that she found herself in a dusty room deep in Yellow Diamond's compound that held an ancient Wailing Stone. She'd taken a position in waste disposal because she wasn't qualified for much else. These storerooms hadn't been touched in centuries. The Wailing Stone was dim and cracked, but Lapis knew that cracked gems could still be of use, sometimes.

She hadn't expected that anyone would be monitoring the communication band she used -- it had last been in common use six millennia ago -- but she wasn't allowed to leave that evening when her shift was over. Sitting in a cell, Lapis was irritated with herself. Why had she bothered? Steven probably wouldn't even receive the message. If he did, what good would it do? They were doomed either way. She shouldn't have gotten wrapped up in it.

Still, she felt a strange sense of relief when she was told she'd be going to Earth too.


	115. The Message 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Greg and Garnet slowly become friends.

Greg got along with Amethyst well when he was willing to be a source of entertainment. Of course, he loved Rose Quartz more than anything. Pearl was a lost cause, at least for now. She'd softened a little bit since they'd first met, but not too much.

Greg didn't understand Garnet at all. Most of the time she was silent, and she rarely offered an opinion on anything. She didn't hate eating like Pearl did, but she didn't love it like Amethyst did. She was uninterested in human culture, or at least, he never saw her in town. But she was never particularly rude to him either; once Rose had nixed Garnet's plans of tossing him back over the fence, she never tried again.

He found that after a while he desperately wanted to impress her.

It wasn't a romantic thing -- his heart was definitely set on Rose. But Garnet was nothing if not... _cool_. She was mysterious. She was very close to Rose, and there was a history there that Rose wasn't willing to share yet. Rose told Greg that he should ask Garnet himself, but beyond Garnet's advice about fusion, Garnet never had much to say to him. 

They did get closer over the next few years, especially after Greg met Ruby and Sapphire and understood part of the reason why Garnet held herself so far apart, but it wasn't until after Steven was born that Greg felt like they had finally built a rapport. Sometimes when Greg was walking along the beach, trying to soothe Steven, Garnet came and walked alongside him in silence. She'd hold the baby sometimes while Greg played him lullabies. She was just as quiet as before, but it had become a comfortable silence.

Steven was yawning. Greg's fingertips were beginning to hurt, and he stopped strumming. Garnet looked up.

"One more time," she said.

"What?"

"One more verse, music man," she said, with just a hint of a smile, and as Greg played, Steven eased into sleep.


	116. Political Power 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the town worries about electricity, the Crystal Gems prepare for battle.

The Gems tended to think of Dewey as little more than an occasional irritating presence in their lives, often poking into their business while the Gems were very busy with a serious problem. Today, they were grateful that he'd shown up to distract Steven. Pearl had been planning to walk down to the car wash and ask Greg to spend time with his son so they could get to work on their plans, but Dewey saved them the time.

Once Steven left, the work that they had tried to keep casual flew into full swing. After some deliberation, Pearl told the others about Rose's armory and took them there to see what they could use. Garnet carried back two of the light cannons over her shoulders, and Amethyst and Pearl took the other one. They still had the cannon Greg had stored in his unit, which they kept in Amethyst's room now. Pearl took the washer to pieces, and then the dryer too when she couldn't what she was looking for. She felt like she was so close to getting the device working, but there was some essential piece that she was missing. The electronic components in the robonoid weren't indecipherable, but the way they interacted with the organic components was really confusing. Rose had been the one who was good with organics, not Pearl.

But even if Rose had been there, they would have had a challenge ahead. Pearl didn't doubt that.

A lot of their weaponry and defensive mechanisms hadn't been touched since the end of the war. Some had been stored against an eventuality that they all hoped would never come. Others had been left to rot. They could work on the strawberry field for years and never find all of the gem shards and old weapons that were embedded in the soil.

The Gems talked as well. They threw around theories and old battle plans, considering what might lie ahead. Amethyst knew the least about what might be coming, and her questions helped them to find weak points in their plans. They even put in some time for fusion practice, although they agreed that reducing their numbers would probably not be very helpful, even if it meant increasing their power.

The one thing they didn't talk about was Steven, although Pearl at least was thinking about him all the time, and she figured the others were too. She turned over ideas in her mind as to how to keep him safe. Would sending him out of town be enough? Should they warp him to a far away part of the planet? Should one of them go with him? Would the Homeworld Gems be able to track him down?

All of this would be for nothing if they couldn't protect him. Pearl renewed her efforts on the robonoid disrupter. She had to finish it before Peridot came back. They had to be ready.

Considering all that, the electrical power was the last thing on Pearl's mind. It wasn't like they couldn't make do with fire, regardless of complaints.


	117. The Return 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before the evacuation, Greg and Pearl have a talk.

Greg couldn't quit looking at the enormous hand. It was weird -- if it had been saucer-shaped, or shuttle-shaped, or anything like that, he wasn't sure it would be as scary. The hand could be nothing else than incredibly alien, but it was shaped just like any person's hand.

And where there was one hand, there had to be another. And other parts. Would this hand be followed by an arm? A foot? A whole fleet that formed an alien being who would turn the sky green and burn Beach City to the ground? Burn the whole Earth? They could. Greg understood that.

Steven was calling the mayor to tell everyone to evacuate. While he was distracted, Greg cleared his throat and then looked at Pearl. He expected her to protest, but he had to ask.

"I want to take Steven with me," he said.

Pearl fisted a hand in her tunic. "Of course," she said. "Please. Get as far away as you can."

"I'll pack his bag," Amethyst said, running up the hill towards the temple. Garnet began to throw boxes into the back of Greg's van with a little more violence than necessary.

Now Greg understood how scared they were.

"I'll keep him safe," Greg promised, and hoped he could keep it.


	118. The Return 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "These other Gems aren't like your mother... It was thousands of years ago! It's not like I was there! They don't want you thinking of them like that... like aliens, aliens who invaded Earth!" Greg/Rose.
> 
> Also partially based on this [Tumblr theory](http://tat-buns.tumblr.com/post/127680881840/greg-universe-theoryhc): _My theory is that Rose had taken Greg into her room before, and shown him things. What kinds of things? All kinds probably, but mostly what I’m hinting at is…The Gem war that took place thousands of years ago._

"It's not like I was there," Greg said, and he knew he was sweating. He was trying both to concentrate on his driving and to figure out the best way to explain the Gem War to him without making him feel like the Crystal Gems were dangerous.

They were, of course. Greg understood that. But he didn't think Steven was ready to think about that, and the Gems didn't either. Greg had been with Rose for almost eight years before Rose had taken him into her room and showed him what the war had actually been like. She'd placed them together on battlefields where the smallest participant would have been able to mash him into a pulp as soon as look at him. He saw axes tossed that were as large as cars and he saw Pearl die again and again.

He didn't want Steven to ever see something like that. He hoped every single day that Steven never would, that the room didn't have any memories or that the Gems wouldn't decide that Steven needed to see them. He hoped that the Homeworld Gems never came back.

Rose had showed him the devastation and destruction almost like a warning. They'd been talking about having a baby for a while now, and what that might mean to their relationship. (Not the whole story -- that came later. He'd been picturing a little child nestled in her arms.) She wanted him to know what she had been capable of, and what might someday happen again.

"Not if I can prevent it," she told him, her eyes sad, and he'd tried to kiss away her tears.

That day felt very far away the day that Greg drove away from Beach City with his son in the front seat, Steven hoping that Peridot might change her mind. Greg had never seen a peridot. But he'd seen enough to know it was unlikely, not just because of what Rose had told him, but because of human history. Humans had done enough terrible things to their planet and to each other without Gem involvement. Some things, he guessed, were universal between species, like war.

The car accelerated, and Greg hoped they could get far enough away.


	119. The Return 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper returned to Earth because she got the orders, but also because of her own reasons.

Jasper was not interested in going back to Earth. She thought her commanders had made a mistake in abandoning the planet to Rose Quartz to start with. Homeworld clearly had superior numbers and stronger forces, but they weren't willing to invest the time to finish what Rose Quartz had started.

Jasper was sure she could take Rose in a one-on-one fight, but her army wouldn't let Rose anywhere near the battle. So she shredded emeralds and crushed topazes and took out her frustration on all of the Gems around her, and when Homeworld ordered her home, she went.

When she heard that there was a peridot looking for an escort to Earth, she pulled some strings and got the assignment. None of the other jaspers were particularly interested. Most of them hadn't been alive during the war for Earth, or had been on other assignments at the time. None of them had actually seen Rose Quartz either. Of course, Jasper had only had a glimpse of curls above a bright pink shield, but it was enough for her to find intriguing. Rose was tall and powerful. Why had she chosen to waste her life like this?

Jasper intended to ask her when she got to Earth, right before she headbutted her in the face.

"Tell me the truth! You really didn't see Rose Quartz there?" she asked again, slamming her fist against the wall above Lapis's cell. Lapis flinched, but then she looked up at Jasper, meeting her eyes sullenly.

"No, I said that already," she said. "She's not there. Just the remnants of her stupid army. Which, I keep saying, isn't even worth your time."

"I decide if it's worth my time!" Jasper told her, and then spat. "Probably won't be."

She walked away briskly down the corridor, ignoring the tiny feeling of disappointment that carved into her chest.


	120. Jailbreak 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl and Amethyst went quietly.

Pearl was going to hear that sound forever: the sound of Jasper's helmet striking Steven's face.

"Stop! Stop, we'll go with you! Just don't hurt Steven!" she screamed. Jasper was still holding Steven by the shirt, but she lowered him and smiled at Pearl. It was an awful smile. Steven was limp, but Pearl was pretty sure he was still breathing.

"Oh, no, I won't hurt her. We'll let Yellow Diamond decide what to do with this abomination," she said. 

"He's not an abomination," Amethyst growled. Pearl reached out and grabbed her shoulder, shooting her a look.

"Don't provoke her!" she whispered.

"The pearl is right," Jasper said. "You really don't want to provoke me. I'll be happy to poof all of you if that's what it takes. What do you think will happen if I try to poof this tiny version of Rose Quartz? Do you want to find out?"

"No!" Amethyst said. "No, we're coming."

"Bring the other ones," Jasper said, curling her lip, and then she turned back toward the ship, apparently sure that they would follow. Lapis trailed her obediently.

Peridot held her hand out menacingly, her fingers shaped into a gun. "You better do what she says."

Pearl reached down and picked up Ruby and Sapphire's gems, cradling them close to her body. They appeared undamaged. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen them reform -- they liked to do it privately when they could, and normally someone would just take their gems into one of their rooms in the temple. Some time later, Garnet would emerge. But she didn't know how long it would take, or if Garnet would be in a condition to fight when she came back. Pearl didn't know if she would try fighting. Not if Steven was in danger.

They had no good choices. Amethyst reached up and grabbed Pearl's arm, holding it tightly as they walked into the ship.

It looked nothing like the ship that Pearl had come to Earth on. The corridors twisted unpredictably, and the lighting was cold and green. Impatiently, Jasper wrested Ruby and Sapphire's gems from Pearl's grip and threw them each into separate cells some distance apart. She did the same for Steven, and then Lapis. Amethyst and Pearl followed behind her quietly.

"Prepare the ship for take-off," Jasper instructed Peridot. "I'll start interrogating our guests."

She tossed Amethyst and Pearl into adjoining cells and paced between them.

"The more you cooperate, the better chance you have of surviving," she told them. 

Pearl laughed. "Right. Like there's even a chance that the Diamond Authority won't crush us to powder after getting all this information from us? You said it yourself: we're a runt and a defective pearl. No one wanted us. But Rose did. And I will protect her, and Steven, as long as I'm alive."

"Me too!" Amethyst said. "So you can go get janked."

"Amethyst!" Pearl said.

"You wanted to say it," Amethyst said.

The ship began to vibrate as it took off. Jasper growled in irritation.

"Maybe the Diamond Authority will crush you -- I hope I'm there to witness it when they do. But there are a _lot_ of ways to die, and some hurt worse than others. I want you to think about that for a while. I'll be back."

Jasper stalked off. After her footsteps had faded down the corridor, Pearl said, "Don't try it."

It was too late. "Oww!" Amethyst said. "That stings!"

"That's why I said don't try it," Pearl said. She sighed, settling in against the cell wall closest to Amethyst. "It's keyed to the hard light generating mechanism in your gem. If you ignore the pain and try to push through, you'll just poof. Standard for Gem prisons, although I imagine the tech has improved since I last experienced it."

Amethyst sighed. "Probably. How are we going to get out of this one, P? It's looking pretty grim."

"I don't know," Pearl said softly. "Garnet is -- well, Ruby and Sapphire aren't broken, but I don't know how long they'll take to reform. But we have to find a way to get to Steven."

"Oww!" Amethyst said again, with a loud fizzling sound.

"That's not going to work," Pearl said.

They were silent for a while. "Pearl. Do you think this would have gone better if we'd stayed Opal? Since she's stronger?"

"I don't know," Pearl said. "I don't think it was doing any good. Garnet couldn't beat her either. They're just too advanced for us."

"So what, we're just going to wait for her to come back?" Amethyst had gotten up; Pearl could hear her pacing around the cell.

"We can't get out of here on our own. There's nothing else we can do," Pearl said, clenching her fingers together.

"...I hope Steven is okay," Amethyst said, and there was a wet sound that suggested she was wiping tears from her face. She snorted back snot. Normally Pearl would find that gross, but she didn't have the energy to be offended.

"Me too," Pearl said quietly, and they waited.


	121. Jailbreak 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After reforming, Ruby doesn't know what to do without Sapphire at her side. Ruby/Sapphire.

When Ruby came back to consciousness, the last thing she could remember was Jasper's gem destabilizer in Garnet's face. She'd come back as soon as possible, barely bothering to modify her appearance. She took the occasion to remove her adornments -- no more armbands or hanging fabric. She went with good thick boots. It was a uniform not unlike the one she'd worn during wartime. She had the feeling she might need it again.

When she woke, she reached out for Sapphire, but Sapphire wasn't there, so she opened her eyes. She was in a single cell behind an energy field. She went up to the opening and looked out, but she couldn't see much. No one was in the cells across from her. She reached out and poked at the field experimentally, but immediately had to pull her hand back when the shock reverberated through her.

She shut her eyes and tried to think. She tried to think through a few scenarios, but without future vision behind it, the scenes didn't seem realistic. She was so frustrated that she could feel her skin beginning to heat up. Then she tried setting the cell on fire, but the flames wouldn't take.

She growled under her breath, and that was when Steven appeared.

So that was _perfect_. They'd been saving the surprise for his birthday, and Garnet had been a little nervous how he would handle it even then. She was glad that he was okay -- she'd been trying to ignore the possibility that something even more horrible had happened after Garnet poofed. The shiner wasn't great, but he was alive.

And he was out. And she could hear Sapphire singing.

"Let me out!" she begged him, knowing that she wasn't making the best first impression, but unable to care. Once she found Sapphire, they could form Garnet and get everything sorted out. She didn't need to see the future to know that.


	122. Jailbreak 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis knew Steven wasn't coming back for her.

"I'll come back for you," Steven said, but when the ship shuddered and the lights flickered, Lapis knew he wouldn't. He might want to, but the Crystal Gems had other priorities. She had her arms wrapped around her knees and she tightened her grip. She might have braced for impact, had she anything to brace against. But she didn't. That had been a problem of hers for a while.

All the time she'd been awake in the mirror, she'd wanted nothing more than to be free. Now she understood that her brief moment of freedom had been an illusion. If she'd stayed on Earth, the Crystal Gems would have hunted her down and bubbled or crushed her. Going home had been no better. There, her choices were just as limited. And when she made one -- when she sent Steven her warning, which she didn't even know if he'd received -- she'd been punished for it. She'd cooperated with Jasper and Peridot because she couldn't see a way around it, but she knew in the end this wouldn't end well for her.

Maybe she should have stayed in the mirror. Maybe she should have let herself be lost in those old memories and recordings. At least then she might not have been aware of her helplessness.

There was a world down there covered in water, and none of it was here on this ship to protect her. That was one point for Earth -- it was a boring, useless planet, but at least she had been strong there. When they landed, she should have just turned and dove into the ocean and refused to come back.

Lapis tucked her head in and reached to cover her gem with her hands, stretching her arms a little so she could reach. She took a deep breath and waited for the crash.


	123. Jailbreak 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After reforming, Garnet throws away the prejudices and fights for her family.

When Jasper dismissively called Garnet a "shameless display," she almost flinched. It wasn't the worst of the invective she'd suffered through in the past. There would be more; it would be worse. She hoped Steven wouldn't be there to hear it. It wasn't that she didn't want him to know she was a fusion, but that she'd hoped that he could keep his innocence just a while longer. He'd loved fusion too. He'd have a hard time understanding why some Gems thought it was dirty or disgusting. She knew it wouldn't change his mind about her, but it would still be difficult for both of them to deal with.

She came back to herself with a touch of embarrassment but mostly an overwhelming sense of joy. Ruby and Sapphire had been desperately worried about each other, but now they had found themselves. They had become her again, and no matter what happened, she wouldn't let Jasper separate her again.

She opened all three of her eyes and grinned at Steven, who was wide-eyed and fascinated. She thought about the first impression that Ruby and Sapphire had left on him and winced internally. Ruby had been too caught up in her own worries to be kind to Steven, and Sapphire had been distracted and cold. This wasn't what they or she had wanted.

Of course, Steven was more worried about his own first impressions, and she ruffled his hair, so full of love and affection that she thought she might burst. She sent him on his own mission and prepped herself for the fight, her body taut with excitement.

Nothing had changed about her respective strength, or Jasper's, and she was in enemy territory, her family in danger. Still, it was a fight she knew she could win. She didn't care about proving the point that fusions aren't so bad. She cared about existing as she was, and no matter what Jasper said, she couldn't take that from Garnet.

She summoned her glasses and set her feet, and deep in her mind, Ruby and Sapphire were singing her on.


	124. Jailbreak 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis chooses to take Jasper's hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final entry in the Season 1 drabbles. I didn't mean to end on such a downer -- there's actually one more story that I posted independently [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6830455), water is taught by thirst, which is more hopeful. 
> 
> I'm sorry it took so long to get them posted. Excuses, excuses, etc, the bottom line being that after I moved late last year I've had much less time to write or even to post existing writing. I would like to continue this series with Season 2 drabbles. If you're interested in those, you can subscribe to me or to the series [lightly stepped a yellow star](http://archiveofourown.org/series/303549).
> 
> Enjoy your summer of Steven!

Lapis held out her hand and hoped that Jasper remembered the steps. She hoped they hadn't changed too much since she'd had her own training, too. She doubted it. Back then, fusion practice had been little more than a distasteful afternoon, couched in warnings about losing oneself in a fusion, or being unable to subsume yourself into someone else's energy. For emergencies only, her trainer had explained dryly. No one in her cohort had succeeded to fuse for more than a few minutes at a time.

"Independent Lapis Lazulis," the Gem in charge had said, with satisfaction in her tone.

She almost shuddered when she felt Jasper take her hand in her enormous paw, and hoped that Jasper wouldn't realize what she was doing until it was too late. She may not have heard much about fusion during the beginning of her life, but Lapis had been around for a long time. She'd heard the gossip, on Homeworld, and later, she knew what Garnet was. She knew it was possible to chain yourself together with someone else and never let go. Ruby and Sapphire were lucky they hadn't become corrupted from the stress. Lapis wasn't sure she'd be so lucky.

But what did it matter? This would give her a measure of control she hadn't had in a long time. This would give her someone else to focus on besides her anger. She saw Jasper's grin and she knew Jasper thought that they were winning. She let Jasper spin her. Jasper was surprisingly gentle despite their size difference, or maybe because of it. It was a predator's kindness, she thought, the luxury of enjoying the wind-up to the hurricane. Lapis didn't smile back. She became water.

Malachite had a fractured personality. Jasper refused to give up any of her control, reveling in her new size and shape, with hardly a thought for Lapis at all. Lapis reached out and found the sea behind her, and it was enough.

"Let's stay," she said, full of horrible triumph and terror, and when the waves closed over her -- their -- head, it felt like victory.


End file.
